


Warm Me Up

by Hunter13Hawkie



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan, The Wolves of Mercy Falls - Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Blood and Gore, Female Hange Zoë, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Murder Mystery, Slow Build, Violence, Were-Creatures, Writer Levi (Shingeki no Kyojin)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-01-04
Updated: 2015-04-12
Packaged: 2018-03-05 05:45:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 25,004
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3108302
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hunter13Hawkie/pseuds/Hunter13Hawkie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After being attacked by wolves, Levi never imagined that one of them would've risked its life to save him. Even years later, the memory of a green eyed wolf wouldn't leave his mind.</p><p>But now wolf is the one whose life is being in danger by numerous enemies. Can a simple bookstore owner and occasional writer do the same for it? Even after finding out that wolf is actually a boy named Eren who turns into wolf whenever it gets cold? Even after angry members of Eren's pack don't approve his leave?</p><p>As their two unique worlds clash, both of them will do anything to protect each other. But they're not the only ones keeping a secret.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Past And Present Affect Future

**Author's Note:**

> This is practically my first Attack on Titan fanfic, along with two-three others that will be posted soon. I'm not sure when will I update, but if I feel motivated enough (like getting at least a few comments) I'll update faster. The main pairing are obviously Levi and Eren, but story won't entirely focus on their relationship. There will be some mystery, action, horror and all other stuff that you usually see in classic werewolf story.
> 
> Warm Me Up is actually based on book series Wolves of Mercy Falls, but further there will also be elements concerning MTV TV series Teen Wolf.

_10 years ago…_

Cold and white. White and cold. The only two words that echoed in his mind as he lay buried under the growing pile of snow. Pieces of broken sled weren’t far, soon being lost by the white.

His friend’s shouts were soon gone, probably seeking help. True they weren’t kids anymore, but accidents would happen for the rest of their lives. For some reason they had forgotten all their cellphones in the car, miles away from the nearest house literally in the middle of nowhere. The only thing they had brought were sleds and silly camera for recording happy moments that hadn’t lasted long.

 

Levi tried to move his legs or any other of his lower limbs, only to feel agonizing pain that forced some of the nastiest curses out of him. They were probably broken, that’s at least what Erwin shouted before he and Hanji ran back to car. He was an honored student at Sina’s Medical University after all. Hanji wouldn’t be much of a help since veterinary science was her specialty plus between the two of them and him was a cliff neither could climb without gear. So, the only thing they could do was to get back to call paramedics as soon as possible.

 

Air was getting colder by each passing minute, sending shivers even under the thick layers of clothes. He shivered as events of the day rushed into his head, the only amusement left since all of his electronics were in the car. Cheerful face of Hanji blabbering about an excellent slope for sledding and bugging the duo about it until the two of them had finally agreed with deep sighs.

Once they had got to location, all annoying pleads had been forgotten. Weather had been perfect with sun shining through clouds that occasionally let out a snowflake or two. The trio despite being serious students on University of Sina let out their entire childhood mood they could. Even Levi had, after Erwin accidently lost his sled and landed on his ass with snow flying everywhere. Happy moments had ended after suggestion of trying the so called “black slope” ending with a cliff. Unfortunately Levi had been the one to try it first, enduring the damage it caused.

 

Now he was there with broken legs and possibly other fractures since his back and waist wouldn’t stop hurting. He knew he shouldn’t say it, but things couldn’t go any worse. Multiple pairs of gleaming eyes broke that theory. Levi mentally cursed as he noticed the whole pack of wolves getting closer, sniffing greedily. Of course, the fall hadn’t only caused broken legs. There must’ve been cuts, the smell of blood filling the noses of hungry beasts. Predators surrounded the fallen male, opening their snouts with saliva dripping on exposed skin. Roots ripped the majority of his pants, giving wolves an idea where to bite first.

 

Despite his own flesh being torn Levi kept his voice down, screaming all he could inside of his mind. He simply couldn’t believe the fact of how easily he would die, ending up as deer meat. The biggest wolf bit deeply, almost all the way to bone. This time pain wasn’t avoidable. He screamed until there wasn’t any air left in his lungs.

Neither of wolves minded even though their ears twitched from the noise. They just continued with their feast. Until now Levi distinguished at least four huge wolves, other smaller ones patiently waiting for their turn. But one of them, probably the smallest and weakest had different idea in its mind.

 

Levi continued his shout mixed with all possible noises, not daring to move due to the injury when he was face to face with certain wolf. Except creature wasn’t much of a wolf. It was barely a cub, looking like one of those lapdogs girls went crazy about.

 

“You’re just a brat…” Levi mumbled, trying to focus into something else than pain. Cub continued observing him as understanding him completely. Its green eyes gleamed in the last remaining light as sun began to set. Chocolate brown fur being slightly ruffled by the cold breeze as it slowly approached the biggest, bright furred wolf. According to usual Hanji’s speeches about nature, the pack was led by alpha, the very same wolf that cub was currently communicating with.

Wolf didn’t pay any attention, only taking another bite accompanied by a snarl. Cub didn’t give up, letting out a growl that sounded more like a squeak than an actual threat to an alpha. After few more tries cub was tackled against the tree, whining like a baby it was. Same scenario appeared couple more times until young wolf seemingly reached the limit as it remained still on the ground. For some reason Levi felt more pity for a brat of a wolf than for himself.

 

Situation looked unchangeable as dark finally covered everything. It was December already so days were even shorter than usual. Levi hoped that with dark wolves would’ve disappeared, but shining eyes and bites reminded him of twisted fate in which he was caught. He could almost see the picture of his discarded body accompanied by big title such as “Unlucky victim killed by forest beasts!” or “Sledding turned into tragedy!”. Titles just wouldn’t end, one becoming worse than other until there was only a casual article left in mind.

 

Animalistic sound suddenly changed everything.

 

Levi thought it might have come from other wolves in pack, but reality proved impossible. It was the same tiny cub that was lying on ground moments ago. Now it was back on its feet, growling like a Rottweiler. It wouldn’t be a surprise if it was either Levi or any of other wolves the cub was turned to while making the threat. Cubs were usually the last in lane to get food, so it was only natural hunger took over its head.

 

But that didn’t explain why cub stepped in front of Levi, facing alpha directly.

 

Eye contact was like a signal for battle in animal world. That’s at least what Hanji claimed during her speeches about predators. If other ignored the challenger, fight wouldn’t occur. In that case alpha showed its disinterestedness immediately when it prefer looking for the next place to bite. But cub continued staring in golden eyes with its emerald ones as shouting with them “Fight me!”.

 

When bright furred wolf finally paid attention to its rebellious pack member, cub let out an angry growl as it pushed fangs deep into alpha’s neck. Wolf yelped while trying to get it off, blood covering snow all over. Other wolves stopped with their meal and observed the fight, not daring to interfere. To attack alpha was like willingly leaving the pack in case of being defeated. Alphas were the strongest in pack after all. So cub was either being suicidal or…

 

Was it actually trying to protect a human?

 

That was impossible. Wolves were never allies with humans. Both sides were threat to each other in form of hunters and forest attacks. But for some reason that cub risked its weak body in order to help some wounded human who just happened to be there.

 

Weak body? Was it really that weak? After biting into alpha’s neck, cub remained clinging to it, not even thinking of letting go. Its snout produced voices that would belong only to growling watchdog and the eyes literally gleamed with anger. When cub finally let go, alpha’s fur was colored red. Alpha glared at the daring cub, almost instantly returning the bite. Green eyed wolf dodged and left another bite, this time in leg.

The whole time it fought, cub was far different than before. It was as it had its own berserk mode, making all other wolves back off. Fight lasted a few more minutes before alpha finally stopped and probably with tail between its legs got away, other pack members not far behind.

 

Levi nearly forgot about the whole pain during the time wolves fought. Now it was slowly coming back, wounds stinging from the snow and damage the predators caused. Cub remained still, staring at the bloodied legs and torn clothes. It approached him slowly as Levi would to some wounded animal.

 

Except roles were reversed.

 

For some reason Levi still thought the only reason why cub attacked others was because it was impatiently waiting for its turn to eat. But the way animal carefully sniffed around and gently licked the wounds proved wrong. Cub was in fact acting as an ally, going even against alpha to help.

 

“You’re stupid, you know?” Levi said quietly, watching it coming closer. Cub’s eyes no longer gleamed, staring into his grey ones as wondering what he was saying.

 

“Great, I’m like four-eyes, talking to a random animal.” he lifted his hand to cover the head from more falling snowflakes “But you are one stupid brat. Now you no longer have a pack.”

 

Wolf didn’t really pay attention to Levi’s words as it put its tiny head under his upper arm, snuggling close to him like a pet cat. Then it seemed as cub fell asleep, its soft fur against exposed skin. Levi wasn’t really sure what the point of the whole thing was. Hungry wolves started eating him alive; cub went berserk, attacked the alpha and was now sleeping soundly next to him. It honestly sounded as poorly put together movie synopsis.

 

As more time passed, Levi finally figured what the cub was doing. It was using the natural heat of fur to warm him up. Wolf didn’t seem to mind giving its warmth away since it was already warm enough to begin with as the night brought freezing air.

 

Levi needed warmth and wolf didn’t hesitate to give all of its own. As they both lay there, half-buried under the white blanket of snow, he could sort out distant engine noises in the background. Those were probably paramedics with helicopter and god knows how many vehicles.

 

It seemed as cub noticed them as well as its ears twitched and eyes widened. Young wolf slowly lifted itself up, slightly licking Levi’s face when doing so. Despite the filthiness he let the cub do what it wanted.

 

“Hate to say this… but thanks brat.” Levi mumbled into animal’s fur, smelling freshness of the woods instead of smelling hair. Humming became louder, this time scaring the wolf away. Before it ran back into the dark woods, it glanced one more time, emerald glowing among black.

 

As soon as cub was gone, Levi was nearly blinded by strong light coming from helicopter. Two men started shouting, probably commands and in matter of minutes three paramedics climbed down the ropes connected to flying vehicle. As searchlight wasn’t enough, Levi got blinded one more time when one of paramedics flashed with torch into his eyes, checking the vitals.

 

“He’s conscious, but his pupils show little activity. How long has he been here?” leading man shouted when wrapping blanket around Levi’s freezing limbs.

“We got a call three hours ago. His two friends also said they needed an hour before they got signal.” other one set the stretcher.

“He’s been here for four hours? How come he didn’t freeze to death?” the third one gasped while holding the torch.

“Leave those questions out for now, we have this young man to save.” paramedic tucked the edges of blanket before along with other two medics getting Levi on stretcher.

 

The whole time, Levi didn’t say the thing only watching how ropes were attached on his stretcher to pull him up. It was impossible to see in the dark, but for some dumb reason, Levi could swear he saw the same pair of emerald eyes watching from the cliff. Next moment he blinked, beaming greens were gone, probably heading back to its pack.

 

“Levi! I’m so sorry this happened to you!” black haired recognized Erwin, pale from the worry “There was a snowstorm so cellphones didn’t work! Otherwise we would come sooner!”

“Shush Eyebrows, I’m alright.” Levi muttered, flinching when trying to move “How come you’re here?”

“They let me come because I partly knew extend of your injuries. Broken bones and… holy shit, what is that?!” Erwin’s face became even paler when one of paramedics lifted the blanket, revealing numerous bites all over.

“Wolves…” he replied lazily, only watching how medic took a syringe, probably rabies vaccine, and injected him with it. It might’ve been only a vaccine, but it made him sleepy. Medics were busy treating the bites and other injuries while Erwin talked to the leading man, describing the accident.

 

Humming of the engine continued as Levi was dozing off from all exhaustion he endured during the day. Voices became merely echoes and the only thing that stayed in Levi’s mind were those two emerald eyes.

_…. Present …_

Levi sighed when looking for keys of a bookstore’s backdoor. He pretty much regretted the fact that he came early instead of just in time so his coworker Petra would be there at least. Just when he found the familiar shade of silver, voice from behind joined the morning noise.

 

“Good Morning Mr. Ackerman!” woman with auburn hair waved her hello “Nice to see you early.”

“Just Levi is fine Petra.” he murmured while unlocking the door.

“Well you are practically a boss here, so it’s only polite to call you like that.” Petra grinned when hanging her coat along with scarf and hat “It’s pretty chilly today. Good thing temperatures will rise up tomorrow.”

 

No comment came from Levi as he done the same, along with turning on the computer. After graduating, there was no particular way that he had been interested about so he had followed his only hobby – reading. Bookstore used to belong to an old lady who had also been the one who had offered him apprenticeship. Levi had taken it so seriously that after two years he had already got a job. It hadn’t been much, but it was enough for paying rent and all other necessaries an average person needs. Not to mention he always had an excuse to wipe the dust off the books as many times he desired.

Now that old lady was gone, he was entrusted to take care of the bookstore. Beside Petra also two other people worked, Isabel and Farlan. Though Isabel would most of the time be caught reading manga on youth department instead of arranging them by genres. Farlan was pretty much like Petra, doing his best and also done the jobs concerning book delivery. Other than various workers, bookstore was like any other store in Freedom Falls.

 

There was a legend describing origins of town’s name. It took way back when natives had been still hiding from invaders. On north among forests and hills they had constructed a hidden village that today became to be known as Freedom Falls – place away from busy cities.

Despite the location, town had pretty much everything from inns, shops, schools and hospital. Only University Sina, the very same where Levi along with his other friends graduated was a bit further, about an hour away. To be honest, it was the distance from the nearest city that attracted Levi so much to it. As man who preferred some peace and quiet, Freedom Falls sounded like heaven; especially because his house was probably located at the most isolated part of town.

 

“Tea? Or by some miracle coffee?” Farlan asked, earning a glare from Levi “I’ll take it as the tea.”

“Levi-bro, are there any new books?” Isabel intruded, carrying a handful of latest manga.

“Not that I know or care.” Levi checked computer for messages “Ask your boyfriend, he’s in charge of delivery.”

 

Isabel blushed deeply and without a sound, stormed away when Farlan appeared with mugs. Levi took his tea, not looking away from the screen.

 

“What was that about?” Farlan asked Petra, knowing Levi would ignore him.

“Just a random check for any new books.” Petra giggled and taking a sip of her coffee.

“Oh, I was supposed to pick those novels at post this morning.” he face-palmed, rushing to get the coat and car keys “I’ll be right back!”

Besides quiet classic music coming from rusted radio, there was silence. Petra went helping Isabel with cleaning some of the older books when a bell announced customers coming in. Since girls were gone, Levi was left with all social-people-interacting- related job. There were luckily just two students, probably from High School Rose. Due to lack of other shops or any other places to kill time, they liked to come here.

 

“Can I help you?” Levi did the introduction talk.

“Um…“the taller boy with freckles looked around “Where are the adventure novels?”

“Under the Youth Department.” Levi replied, opening the book catalog “Anything specific?”

“We’re just gonna look around.” he cheerfully dragged the other boy towards the exhibited books.

“I hope you’ll be done soon.” other boy with long, horse-like face muttered.

“Oh, come on Jean, the next lesson starts in more than an hour. What else do you want to do?” he said with bit of disappointment when grabbing the first novel.

“Anything but books.” other crossed his arms “I mean, who else spends the free period reading? Besides a bookworm like you, Marco?”

 

Boy named Marco only grinned when checking for more books. In the meanwhile Farlan was back, carrying two heavy crates while catching a breath. Levi assigned the girls, who were done with dusting, to help him with unwrapping and listing in the storeroom.

Eventually, Marco decided which novel to buy, bringing it along with a limited-edition poster from the Youth Department. Jean seemed bored entire time, not even glancing at the single book in store. As Levi was checking Marco’s purchase, Petra brought few products for display.

 

“Anything else?” black haired asked, setting a paper bag.

“You don’t sell gums, right?” Jean asked more out of amusement than actual question.

“If you wish to fuck with me, pick the other day. I hate Mondays.” both boys earned a death glare “But if you really wish to chew that piece of shit, go to the mall.”

 

Neither of them dared to say anything when Levi went writing the invoice. Cash register still wasn’t working properly, so each payment had to be done by hand. As a current owner, Levi was in charge and wasn’t too happy about it. The whole time he was writing on specific piece of paper, Marco watched the written words with an interest.

 

“That will be 24.99 $, sign below.” he handed it to Marco.

“That style of writing…” boy checked it over with widened eyes “Don’t tell me… you’re Heichou!”

 

Jean looked confused for a second and Levi just acted as nothing happened. He waited patiently for money and signature, but freckled teen just wouldn’t stop staring.

 

“Who’s Heichou?” Jean broke the silence.

 

Marco immediately dig through his schoolbag and pulled out a novel with red covers. Its shiny letters announced the title as _Attack on Titan: Fall of the Walls,_ the very first volume.

 

“You’re the creator of my favorite book series!” teen acted as a freaking fanboy “Could you please sign my book? I always wished to have your autograph!”

“How the fuck did you know it was me?” Levi’s eyes widened. He was sure no one would’ve figured out the pseudonym he had been using.

“The prologue was handwritten, so I kind of memorized your style of writing!” Marco couldn’t control his excitement as he already handed him a pen and set a blank page of the book.

 

As he wasn’t sighing enough for today, Levi took a ridiculously _Attack_ _on Titan_ themed pen and quickly done his signature. When handing it back, Marco’s smile grew even bigger and took the book as it was a sacred object.

Seeing that his friend wouldn’t stop staring into freshly written autograph, Jean paid instead and started dragging Marco out.

 

“When will you publish the next part?” teen uttered before fully being pulled out of the shop.

 

Levi didn’t really pay attention when putting banknotes and coins into metal case used as a temporal cash register. The fact that he was an author of currently the most popular action-adventure-apocalyptic book series had been hidden practically from beginning. It was kind of surprising that a bare student figured out, based only on handwriting style.

 

“I see you got yourself a fan.” Petra smiled, bringing a list of new books “Can I get an autograph, too?”

“Shut it.” Levi leaned on the table which only made her laugh more “I only wrote that piece of crab out of boredom based on the drunken man I saw.”

“And yet it became pretty popular. How come you didn’t sell the rights for a movie?” she glanced at her seemingly tired boss who narrowed his look.

“They would screw it up in every way. I don’t give a fuck if they want a movie out of it.” he went through the list “Did you finish with sorting?”

“Yeah… which reminds me! You have a call.” she said, pointing out the door leading to office.

 

Even though everything was taken care of behind the counter, it was required to have the place for files and similar stuff. Apparently also the company phone.

 

“Freedom Falls bookstore. How can I… the fuck Hanji!?” Levi nearly shouted when hearing familiar chuckle.

“Hey there, midget!” woman’s voice cheerfully greeted.

“How many times do I have to tell you to use the fucking cellphone for personal calls, you shitty woman!” he closed the door so others wouldn’t hear him cursing over the phone.

“It has such a wonderful introduction melody!” Hanji sang.

“Cut the crab, why the fuck are you calling?” Levi held himself back not to crush the receiver against the wall.

“Erwin and I are free today! Let’s meet at Wings bar at seven, okay?” she said cheerfully, probably grinning on the other side.

“Shitty Glasses, I will ki…” he started.

“Right! Seeya at seven, bye!” call was over before he could refuse. It wasn’t that he hated the two of them; he just wasn’t in the mood for hanging out. But he also knew that Erwin as a head surgeon at local hospital had really small amount of free time, so it was a question if the three of them would have a chance of meeting up like that again.

Picking up the notebook, he headed back to greet the next customer with as much politeness as he could. It was an old lady, asking for a book she ordered for the sixth time in previous two weeks. Luckily Petra was there to take over so he could go check if Isabel and Farlan were doing anything besides flirting. Sounds from the storeroom weren’t really convincing.

 

“This day is going to be long.” Levi rather ignored it and went cleaning the book shelves.

 

…

 

 

It was quarter to seven when Levi was standing in front of familiar bar called Wings. He preferred refreshing shower at home before that, but the bookstore’s opening time lasted until six o’clock so there wasn’t any point going there and back. It took more than half of an hour to get there, not to mention the snow was everywhere.

 

As soon as he got inside, waving hand belonging to brunette with glasses pointed their seats. Hanji was the same as ever, her brown messy hair pulled in a ponytail and glasses reflecting the light. Erwin on the other hand felt different, since his usual flawless hairstyle was ruffled and heavy bags decorated spots under the eyes.

 

“You look like shit, Eyebrows.” Levi said as he took a seat “Something wrong?”

“Not really… I just haven’t got a good sleep for a while.” Erwin said while yawning.

“I told you to fucking switch coffee with tea. As a terrific doctor you are, you should fucking know that.” he tried to sound convincing at which the blonde yawned yet again.

“Wow your vocabulary hasn’t changed a bit. No wonder why so many teens are crazy about your work.” Hanji opened the third sugar package, mixing it in her cream covered hot chocolate.

“Are you sugar high again, Glasses?” he turned to her.

“Maybe.” she giggled and sipped the hot drink along with cream.

 

During their meeting chatter bartender Hannes came to pick orders from Erwin and Levi. Black haired quickly ordered two cups of tea, before the other could ruin himself with coffee. As the three of them sipped down their drinks they managed to catch up for the last month.

Though the only one who had anything to say was Hanji. Unlike Levi and Erwin, brunette was married and had a teenage daughter named Sasha. Both males clearly remembered when she had accidently got pregnant at age of 18, but despite everything she continued with studying and raising a child. Now she was married to Moblit who was the father of her child and also a man she loved since the high school. As a qualified veterinarian she owned an animal clinic above which she lived with her family and handful of pets. Those were mostly cats and few rodents, but no dogs. Moblit had a nasty allergy and would got reactions the moment dog approached him.

As for Erwin, he remained single since his schedule was keeping him on duty. After all necessary qualifications, blonde had started off as basic surgeon assistant. In matter of years he improved to the main surgeon and soon the head of operating department. The pay was good as well as his apartment. The only problem was shown on his face.

 

“Are you doing anything else besides work?” Levi asked after taking a sip “Reading medical books doesn’t count.”

“Do you have any hobbies at all?” Hanji asked, pointing out the problem. Black haired figured the meeting was actually meant to focus on Erwin’s wellbeing. Apparently brunette was helpless in that area and decided to tag Levi along, the only other person Erwin was willing to listen to.

“No…” blonde rubbed his eyes sleepily.

“You seriously need one.” other male gave him an earnest look “Otherwise you’ll end up as soulless figure.”

 

Both he and Hanji had plenty of hobbies, both focused differently. As Hanji loved playing with her pets, occasionally experimenting and trying new recipes with Sasha, Levi preferred more “clean and organized ones”. Besides writing and reading, he would also listen to classical music while observing the view through the giant window on his attic. Those relaxing moments were perfect for planning a story or just plain sketching. He recently tried painting, but soon gave up duo to art-block and extend of the mess it caused.

 

“You need someone else besides us in your life, Eyebrows.” Levi said after a short thought.

“I’m not getting myself a girlfriend.” Erwin muttered under a set of yawns.

“It doesn’t need to be a person. Just pet is enough!” Hanji suddenly thought of an idea “Say what about a dog?”

 

Both males glanced confusedly as she continued.

 

“If you walk the dog twice a day, you’ll get more fresh air. Also you won’t be lonely as much.” she excitedly leaned above the table to get closer.

“What are you pointing at?” blonde suddenly became more awake.

“We recently saved a wounded dog. It recovered, but we weren’t able to find a home for it.” Hanji clenched his hands with her own “I would keep it myself, but Moblit can’t stand the dog hair. I know you’re organized enough to take care of it and keep up with your job.”

 

For the first time since they came to bar, Erwin seemed to stir from the daze. He really seemed to consider it even if it came from a mad woman like Hanji.

 

“What kind of breed is it?” blonde’s eyes showed more activity than before.

“I can’t say for sure, but I’d say it’s the cross-breed between husky and retriever.” Hanji’s glasses caught light, shining almost as much as her excitement “Does that mean you’ll take it?”

“I’ll take it into consideration.” he smiled, earning even bigger one from the woman.

“If you do take it, keep it in the house for a while.” Levi broke the sparkles between the duo “Those wildlife attacks are more than alarming.”

 

Duo turned their heads towards him at the same time, flashbacks rushing into their heads. It wasn’t just an event from a long time ago that triggered their thoughts.

Around two weeks ago one of the teachers from High School Rose, the one Sasha was attending, was found brutally murdered near his house. His body had numerous bites all over, awfully familiar to the ones Levi received during the sledding accident. Hanji was called to make an examination of body, only to confirm everyone’s suspicion. Man died due to ripped throat and his insides being pulled out by sharp fangs. Even though Freedom Falls had lack of wildlife attacks, the accident alarmed entire town, going as far as reporting to the State Police.

According to Erwin’s friend Mike who was major’s assistant, most of the citizens demanded the wolves to be shot down permanently. Of course those were the cowards from the richer part of the town who only feared for their wellbeing, not caring what was happening around them. But they supported the town the most so all town’s decisions belonged to them.

Just the thought of hunters stepping through untouchable forest while covering the ground with animal blood made everyone sick.

 

“Levi?” Hanji surprisingly used his actual name for once.

“I’m going home.” he simply stood up and put coat on “It was nice to see the two of you.”

 

Whatever Erwin and Hanji said after that stayed unknown to him. Mondays really weren’t his days and extra mood-ruining talks didn’t make them any better. He hated to leave the duo in such an unceremonious way, but his mind was full of current thoughts. Such as the ones he didn’t understand himself, not bothering to worry others with them.

Starting on his plain black car, thoughts gradually faded when hearing the calm music of some soundtrack CD. It was already a night, street lights showing the way of the main road. Shops were closed, bars opening and some of the people walking through the streets. Levi also passed two of the bigger buildings, Elementary School Maria and High School Rose. They were covered by darkness, black flag barely visible in front of the larger building. Fact that entire school grieved after a teacher they hardly knew, almost made Levi laugh. He knew the man named Nile Dawk wasn’t that big of a deal. Heck, he knew Nile personally during the time he temporarily taught Literature and if he was on his funeral he wouldn’t thought of a one positive thing about him. Guy had serious anger issues, wasn’t capable of taking risks or unpredictable situations and wasn’t even pretending to like kids and not to mention he was treating everyone as trash.

 

Next building wiped the uncomfortable memories away. Welcoming wooden house with sign saying “Zoe Animal Clinic” belonged to no other than Hanji. Figures in the upper floor announced that Hanji’s family was still up, either playing with cats or Moblit chasing Sasha after snatching the snacks. Levi nearly thought about stopping by, but remembered about his never ending _Monday headache_ and rather continued driving home.

He reached the end of the main road that was divided into two sections. The right one would lead to Erwin’s house and left one to Levi’s. Twenty more minutes of confusing turns and forest ways of shortcuts, Levi finally parked under the car shelter that freshly fallen snow hadn’t touched. His house was also wooden and smaller than Hanji’s or Erwin’s. Opening the door, a fresh scent of cleaning products from the previous day filled his nostrils. Just the kind of welcome he preferred.

 

Coat was hanged, bag dropped on the desk and shoes kicked off his feet. At the times like this he would usually have a cup of tea, read a page of that complicated classic novel then shower and go to bed. But instead of that he pulled the ladder that led to his room on attic, climbing onFrom the closet where he kept all the paintings, cursing when dust flew all over. He went through all canvas until he reached the very first one.

 

On it was a blurry expressionistic painting of forest with certain detail illuminating. A pair of emerald eyes brought the painting in life just like all those years ago. Levi stared into it in silence, until a certain sound broke it.

 

Howling. Wolf howling.

 

He glanced through the huge window, looking for the source of howling. It was way too dark to see anything, but Levi didn’t really care.

 

Howling felt as the most peaceful instrumental music he had. For the time being the world stopped, echoing with beautiful sound. After what felt like an hour, wolf sounds ended leaving Levi to clench onto the painting until he finally went towards the bed.

 

“Be careful out there, brat.” he whispered into the night “And no I’m not turning into Shitty Glasses.”

 

 

…

 

 

Unlike usual wake up melody, different sound woke him up. Still sleepily and hair messy, Levi grabbed the cell phone.

 

“What?” he wasn’t in mood to curse.

“We were going to tell you yesterday, but you already left.” it was Erwin’s voice.

“Something important?” it was accompanied by a yawn.

“Not really, but I thought you should know.” Erwin hesitated for a second “Major approved the shooting. Don’t go outside today. From what I heard, there’s going to be slaughter.”

 

After the word slaughter, Levi dropped the cell phone and let out his shocked reaction. He turned towards the painting of wolf’s eyes, leaning against the wall.

 

The emerald eyes belonging to the cub just became written off by exterminators.

 

Cub had saved his life.

 

And its life was going to be stolen away forever.


	2. This Time I'll Protect You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shooting takes place and Levi discovers certain someone.

 

 

In the morning Levi would usually wake up slowly then stretching all of his limbs and throwing on a tracksuit make few laps around the woods. After refreshing wake-up jog, he would have a shower while listening to local news. For nearly ten years he would always have a breakfast at the same time consisting of fruit and cereal, eggs with bacon and something entirely new accompanied by a cup of steaming black tea. Then he would neatly take care of his hair and put on the outfit that he had carefully chosen the previous day. Last but not least he would write some pages of his thoughts or sometimes dreams in the tiny notebook he’d always carried around.

 

That’s how morning routine should’ve been if certain phone call hadn’t interrupted it.

 

Pieces of cellphone were laying all over as Levi’s thoughts blurted out all possible situations. Only when device finally gave up its last buzz, man snapped out, looking at the item he had accidently dropped. He quickly grabbed the alarm clock to realize he’s been staring into the painting for more than an hour. There wasn’t much time left if he wanted to arrive at work on time. Sacrificing the morning jog and more importunately the shower along with combing was supposed to be a hit for him, but he didn’t really care.

Grabbing a piece of toast that he hadn’t touched since the last time Erwin visited him he had practically thrown a pair of black pants and sweatshirt on before getting into car. After five minutes of driving he cursed because he had forgotten the cravat that he had always worn. It was too late to go back since making the turn in that area was dangerous.

 

As he drove towards the town, Erwin’s voice echoed in his mind. They were really going to shot the wolves just because some people saw them as a possible threat. Levi couldn’t understand their logic though the accident of Nile Dawk was anything but helpful at defending them. World was messed up and Levi knew it. For now woods were still peaceful, but in the afternoon the silence of nature would be ruined by gunshots and hunter calls.

 

“Get out of here brat… it’s not safe.” he mumbled into steering wheel, trying to brush away the thought of what would happen if Hanji were to hear him. She would probably drag him to her animal clinic, pleading to take care of another stray dog. It wasn’t that he hated dogs in general or something; he preferred to see them in wild as the free creatures, not as the dolled-up lapdogs.

 

Speaking of pet dogs, Hanji had actually tried to convince to get a dog, not him but Erwin. He wondered if blond reconsidered having it or not. It would do him good in order to finally kick him out of his not-taking-care-of-himself schedule. Levi thought about the duo some more when quiet morning news broke the silence.

 

“Scientists have been warning us about global warming for several years. Today we might experience its effects in a form of extreme temperatures. Instead of sub-zero temperatures, it will raise several degrees above zero and not just few. If you’ve forgotten your coat at home, don’t bother with it. Winter will for a day or two turn into spring if not summer.” voice that Levi recognized as Aurou’s, Petra’s husband, said fluently without interruptions. He still didn’t get it how that man got a job at radio since he had a nasty habit of biting his tongue.

 

Few more turns and Levi reached the bookstore’s parking lot. Forecast wasn’t kidding about the increasing temperatures. Icicles were visibly melting, water dripping down loudly as the rain. Snow did too, though there was still too much of it in order to melt entirely. Glancing at watch, black haired mentally cursed to see he was later than usual.

 

His coworkers rather acted as they didn’t notice him than greeting him, pointing out unusual timing. Man only got to already turned on computer, sipping Farlan’s brilliant tea that he didn’t have time to drink at home. Isabel was busy with customer, recommending various books for a birthday gift. Farlan wasn’t too far away while holding a clipboard and writing down the books that were on sale.

 

“There were no new messages or deliveries. Before Mrs. Brown arrived we had few customers who just came to look around a bit.” Petra joined him in front of the screen “Is something wrong?”

“Why would it?” Levi asked with his I-don’t-care tone.

“I don’t know… In five years of working with you I haven’t seen you without cravat. Not to mention with ruffled hair and arriving late. Plus you’re drinking my coffee.” she said making him spill the warm drink.

“I thought tea tasted funnier than usual.” he went wiping the counter with napkin, earning a glance from giggling Isabel.

“But seriously what is bothering you sir? You didn’t even answer my texts.” Petra expressed her mother like concern.

“My fucking cellphone has gone to hell this morning.” Levi mumbled when grabbing a bucket and broom from underneath the table “You take it from here. I’m going to clean the second filthy floor.”

 

Auburn haired pretty much knew what that meant. Whenever he wasn’t in the mood to play fake expressions, he would go clean. Second floor was extra in the chore since the oldest and the rustiest books were kept there. Without announcing the visit place was off-limits to unauthorized persons plus Isabel who was unable to keep something that valuable in one piece. Bucket was soon filled with water as he dipped old cloth into bubbly mixture of cleaning fluids and started rubbing the edges of floor. To make sure they were clean, he went through them with yellow rubber gloves, checking for any filth.

 

“What is eating you?” Levi flinched at the Farlan leaning against the wall “I’d figured something was up. The heck, everyone did.”

 

Levi continued with his “cleaning meditation” until fair haired lost the patience and stepped in front of him. Seeing there was no use in lying or running away, he stood up sighing deeply.

 

“Fucking hunters are going to shoot down all the wolves in Freedom Falls.” black haired avoided eye contact, pretending to be interested in an old book cover “Just like that.”

 

Reply left puzzled look in his friend whose eyes widened from shock. Farlan tried to find the most suitable words to say, but failed.

 

“Is it because of Nile Dawk incident? Weren’t you attacked too?” he stepped closer, trying not to step on spots that Levi already scrubbed.

“I was.” black haired mumbled “But even animals as they are don’t deserve a bloody massacre. Fucking dork is causing scene even after his death!”

“This sounds more personal than it looks.” Farlan looked around the room, eyes landing on man’s tense look “What really happened there? I was told you needed numerous skin and muscle transplants due to bites. Not to mention you nearly died from extreme fever few days later.”

“I’m really not in a mood to talk about that shit.” Levi adjusted big gloves a bit as he continued looking for dust covering spots ignoring the question “Don’t you have work to do?”

“I do, but one of employee’s responsibilities is also to look after the boss.” Farlan wouldn’t leave the spot next to black haired who frowned.

 

The two of them just stared into each other as expecting a movie narrator to talk instead of them. Jingling of an early attached Christmas bell announced few more customers coming. Voices of Petra and Isabel were heard as they helped looking for certain products. Realizing they might need help, Farlan slowly moved towards the stairs.

 

“I won’t ask questions on which I know you won’t answer.” first stair loudly creaked “But whatever deal is with you and the shooting, I think you should discuss it with Erwin.”

“Why with the fucking Eyebrows?” his eyes narrowed more than before.

“He knows you the most plus he also called earlier, inviting you to his place. According to what he said, he has forgotten to tell you something yesterday that he can’t over the phone.” Farlan proceeded to take the bucket from Levi’s hands “We can handle the shop just fine. Go visit Erwin.”

“I can after a closing time.” he protectively tightened his hold over the broom.

“Nope you can’t. Erwin has a night shift today.” other grinned when snatching the other cleaning tool as well “Come on you haven’t got a day off since forever. You need it and you know it.”

“Fine.” black haired gave up over his friend’s wide grin “But when I get back tomorrow, I want this place spotless!”

“Aye, sir!” Farlan jokingly pretended to be captain’s subordinate, quickly dodging the wet rag thrown by Levi.

 

Since man didn’t wish to bother with what all his coworkers’ suggested any longer, he took off the rubber gloves and bandana. As others continued with assisting the customers, arranging the always flawlessly looking books or bothering with paperwork Levi grabbed the car keys not bothering with coat. It was midday already and heat could be compared to the one you feel in late spring. Auruo sure wasn’t making up that temperature increase notice in order to get more listeners on his boring news channel.

Before getting into car he heard cheerful shouts which he really hoped weren’t addressed to him. Looking across the road was a familiar freckled boy from yesterday, Marco was it? With him were the same bored boy Jean and couple of girls. When Levi exchanged looks with them, Marco seemed as he was going to pass out from excitement.

 

“Do you see him Mina?” he asked the black haired girl with loosed ponytails “Who’ve thought a guy from a bookstore is the Heichou himself!”

“Do you think he’ll give me an autograph as well?” girl Mina went looking over school bag for pen and paper.

“I want it too! Wait until Franz sees it!” other girl with short orange hair went looking for the same material “Do you think he’ll be able to sign with a lipstick?”

“Come on Hannah, you only want his autograph so you can show-off in front of your boyfriend.” Jean muttered, making her blush.

“It’s… not like… that. We’re just friends!” girl became more and more embarrassed.

“Yeah right, Marco is just my friend too and I randomly kiss him in the middle of the school hall. Not to mention the stuff we do during study time.” now Marco was the one to blush.

“Jean!” freckled boy attempted to cover Jean’s mouth.

“Really?” Mina’s eyes grew wider.

“Fuck yeah.” Jean managed to get through Marco’s hands.

 

Now that was just perfect. The freckled fanboy decided to found a freaking fanclub consisting of some students with twisted sexualities. Duo of boys proceeded to light argue as the girls just admired the scene, completely forgetting about a celebrity right in front of their noses. Levi used the moment to quickly put the keys in slot and leave them before they could get any ideas.

 

“Damn brats and their fanclub.” he pulled on the gas when driving towards the road he had come less than an hour before. There were more cars due to lunchtime since people worked in shifts. Erwin’s one was going to start in few hours. So the invitation to his place had also lunch included.

 

In matter of minutes he was at Erwin’s house, smoke coming from the kitchen window. He surely hoped blond didn’t use his free time to set the house on fire. Reaching for the doorknob blond opened the door before him, welcoming in an apron and oven gloves. His hair was damp from the steam, earning a grimace from Levi. Like always heating was on the lowliest level since he prefer colder environment.

 

“Are you trying to commit a suicide? I’d be totally happy with heated shit from convenience store.” he tried to wave away the smoke “And what’s with the fucking North Pole in here?”

“Oh, is it cold? It works just fine for me.” Erwin wiped the sweat off his forehead.

“Is the only reason I came to have meal and discuss whatever you had to discuss with me?” Levi already stepped into smoked hallway, removing the boots.

“Pretty much yeah.” blond removed the gloves “But you deserve better lunch than those cheap fish sticks. So I decided to do traditional French cuisine.”

“I’m a Canadian, not French.” he thought about difficult dish preparation from a guy who either ate in cafeteria or heated frozen dinners.               

“It’s the same thing.”

 

Black haired was going to say his complain over incompetent cook when something tackled him on the floor. Lifting head a bit to see what it was Levi was met by slimy snout and bright smelly fur.

 

“Erwin what’s with this abomination?” he tried to get away from the persistent licking as blond grabbed the collar.

“Easy Thomas.” Erwin dragged the hyperactive creature away that immediately listened to his command “Now sit down.”

 

Dog still had the urge to get to Levi, but obediently done as the blond said. Black haired was disgusted at the amount of saliva that the mutt left, wiping it away with a kitchen rag handed by Erwin. The whole time dog Thomas observed him by constantly smelling his boots.

 

“I guess Shitty Glasses convinced you after all.” Levi followed the blond into the kitchen “Though it’s kind of fast-forward.”

“Well, you know how it is when you agree with her.” Erwin opened the oven, letting out even more smoke “You have to take action immediately otherwise she would be bugging you about not changing your mind.”

“So you spent the rest of the last evening and night rearranging your house to mutt’s needs?” black haired took a seat at the polished table.

“It didn’t take that long. Hanji had everything prepared including the basket, food and toys.” Erwin struggled to take baking tray with steaming fish out of the oven.

“It’s not like Glasses to name her dogs with such regular names.” he took another look of Thomas that was now napping in his basket.

“Actually I named him.” blond put pieces of fish on two separated plates “The one that Hanji suggested was a way too complicated.”

“Like what?” other glanced back.

“Chikachironi.” Erwin replied adding frites as a side dish.

 

Two males ate the dinner in silence, only exchanging few sentences when needed. Despite all the smoke salmon came out just great and frites weren’t too greasy or anything. Thomas went to Erwin few times as asking to give him some scraps. Blond had hard time refusing due to big puppy eyes the dog made accompanied by light whining. In the end Thomas got fish head that he savored happily. Levi helped Erwin cleaning the rest of the kitchen and making the tea for both.

 

Soon they were relaxed on the couch, sipping on their warm drinks and Thomas’ head resting in Erwin’s lap. Blond would from time to time gently stroke the spot between ears, making the dog snuggle closer. Memories of the green eyed wolf cub were back in his mind, reminding him of hours that it spent to warm him up with body heat. By now brat was probably an adult already, wandering around the woods. If it was still alive that is.

 

“When will the shooting start?” Levi asked, putting the cup back on the coffee table.

“Probably in an hour or so. Mayor Pixis argued a lot about it, but in the end his hands were tied. Pressure of the local council was too much to handle.” Erwin said with a sigh.

“Right, Nile was a municipal councilor; of course they would use his death as an excuse.” black haired reached for his forehead.

“Why is the shooting taking such a tool on you? Don’t get me wrong, but from your point of view you should be happy about it. Nile was killed near the High School Rose. What if a student will be the next victim?” blond raised his voice in unfamiliar tone.

“What I’m saying is that shooting isn’t the only way to solve this shit. Bastards have built walls around them and now that they were trespassed, think unreasonable.” Levi crossed his arms, staring into Thomas’ bright blue eyes.

“You’re right about that, but this still doesn’t answer to why you are defending wolves that much! I mean on that day… I nearly lost my best friend… because of them.” his voice shivered as he was face to face with other whose eyes widened.

 

Levi never told anyone about the green eyed wolf that was a reason for his survival. He didn’t want to tell Hanji from obvious reasons, but he didn’t know why he covered the truth from Erwin. Blond was his in fact the childhood friend who was the first one to come to his aid whenever it was a homework or fight. He deserved to know.

 

“You weren’t there Eyebrows… at least not entire time. Why do you think I didn’t freeze during those four hours? Or at least got a frostbite?” he said slowly, leaving other in confusion.

“Well, I guess you were really lucky to be alive after the wolf attack.” Erwin played along, hoping to get at least few answers after years of leaving him alone.

“Then why do you think they didn’t fucking kill me?” Levi was tired of leaving guesses.

“I don’t know Levi. You tell me.” blond shifted closer, Thomas whining at the loss of temporal pillow.

 

And so Levi told him every detail concerning the cub and the accident. Erwin listened, neither as regular person who didn’t believe in fairytales or as doctor who would’ve thought that cold got into his head. He simply listened as a caring and supportive friend. Levi as a writer luckily had a talent of shortening complicated stories so conversation didn’t take more as twenty minutes.

By the time he finished Thomas was awake from the nap, demanding to go out for walk. Erwin shook his head, putting away the lead that the dog brought.

 

“Sorry, but not today.” blond pet the Thomas then turning towards Levi “I don’t know about your wolf. It might’ve moved to different place since it challenged alpha, fuck it might’ve even be dead as an omega. Those don’t survive long.”

“It’s alive; I’ve been hearing howling for years now.” black haired stood up “And this should’ve been a fucking proof that they don’t deserve to be shot down as garbage. True, wolves attack people, but only when they’re endangered.”

“Why did they attack you then?” Erwin followed him towards the entrance.

“They didn’t, they were hungry and I was already half-dead. Even people write off those who aren’t following their standards. Wolves just pull the use of what is thrown away.” Levi looked for the car keys after putting boots back on.

“What are you going to do then? I hope nothing crazy; I have a shift and I don’t feel like putting you into a body bag.” blond said in a worried tone.

“Go home and hope that brat survives. If little shit knew how to keep me alive, I’m sure it’s capable of doing that to itself as well. In the meantime, I’ll try to figure out what the fuck is wrong with this town’s council.” black haired said as a form of goodbye when starting the car “Watch over your brat too. It might be a pet dog, but it looks like a wolf.”

 

With those words Levi left, Erwin watching the car disappearing behind the turn. Thomas desperately tried to get off his grip, only to be pulled back inside.

“I sure hope Levi knows what he is doing.” blond mumbled while getting his pet some food.

 

 

…

 

 

Desk was filled with various documents, spread to the every edge of wooden furniture. In the middle of it was laptop with an article of Freedom Fall’s policies that were clichéd as hell. There were tons of rights and laws about “ _safety of citizens comes first”,_ but nothing about wildlife. There were few about protections if the town was a part of Nature Park, otherwise completely empty.

Levi cursed after reading yet another stupid law that only wasted his research time. He had managed to tidy up the morning mess and got himself to put away the painting of wolf’s eyes. How was he supposed to prevent anything, he didn’t really know. From the look of it he was only seeking a distraction from the loud gunshots coming from outside.

 

The time he had got home, extermination had just started. Hunters were probably everywhere since woods were much bigger than the town. Echoes of guns and sometimes animal cries were unbearable no matter how far they were. Levi tried to escape the painful noise with research but after few hours gave up. Massacre still didn’t end even though it was already dark.

Black haired was going to get the headphones on in order to listen to some classical music at the highest volume when his house phone rang. That reminded him to fix his cell phone soon. Grunting over muscles that were still for hours, he checked the shown number.

 

“Is everything okay in the shop, Petra?” Levi recognized it as his company’s phone number.

“It is, but that’s not the reason why am I calling.” she said concerned then seemingly handing the phone to someone else whispering “Just tell him in way you told me. He’ll understand.”

 

It took some time, before boy’s voice was heard on the other side.

 

“Mr. Ackerman? I’m Jean, a friend of boy named Marco who asked you for autograph yesterday. We also met today.” Levi remembered the fanboy and his group.

“Yeah, I know who you and your boyfriend are.” he said, hoping it wasn’t anything fandom related.

“Marco went photographing near the area where you live, but he still didn’t come back yet. Did you by any chance see him? I worried about him.” Jean said, slightly sobbing when mentioning Marco.

“Didn’t he know about today’s shooting?” now Levi was the worried one.

“What shooting?” boy uttered over the shocked gasp, making black haired drop the phone that luckily didn’t break due to the wires.

“I’ll do whatever I can! Do not go into the woods and if you can’t reach him over the phone don’t stop. There’s signal at few places.” Levi quickly hanged up, rushing to get his old coat and grabbing a flashlight.

 

Not only council was stupid enough to arrange the shooting. They didn’t even bother to inform others about it. Due to lower visibility hunters could shot at practically everything moving, including people. To make sure he wouldn’t be mistaken for animal, Levi put some cloth reflectors on. As dumb as hunters they were, he’d at least hoped they carried a flashlight.

 

But where to start? Area around his house had a barely visible forest road and trees wherever you looked. Male just ran in direction from where the nearest gunshots were coming. It took him nearly half of an hour of running before he encountered a group of three men, all carrying hunting rifles and wearing green coats over standard hunter outfit. Levi lifted his arms out to announce his presence in the dark.

 

“Stop with the fucking shooting!” he shouted loud enough to make an echo.

“Are you environmentalist or something to say that?” leader asked, his companions chuckling “We’re on the job here, tree-hugger.”

“There’s a kid walking around, unaware of the shooting! Cancel the extermination before he gets hurt!” Levi shouted, making others gasp from surprising situation. Group froze for a second, but leader stayed tense when taking transmitter out of his pocket.

 

“All units stop. I repeat, stop with the shooting.” man shouted, taking Levi’s words seriously “There is a person presented somewhere in woods. Do not continue with extermination until you make sure the person is found. I repeat, stop shooting and start looking.”

 

Man put the transmitter away staring into Levi’s relieved eyes. Other two men started interrogating him to avoid possible attempts of him lying.

 

“Are you really sure someone besides you is wandering around? What would he be doing here?”

“He went photographing and I bloody know he’s here! His friend was death worried about him when reporting his missing over the phone!” he maintained the fact.

“What is the kid’s name?” leader took transmitter again.

“Marco. I’m not familiar about his surname.” black haired replied to nodding man who delivered additional information through the device.

“And what are you doing here to begin with?” interrogation wasn’t over yet.

“My house isn’t far, I rushed here as fast as I could.” he replied to the leader.

“Oh, that’s why you looked so familiar.” man removed the hood “You’re Levi Ackerman, aren’t you?”

 

Black haired nodded as other stepped closer, taking a greeting hand.

 

“Eld Jinn. I don’t know if your remember me, but I was in the same literature class as you.” man with bright hair, clipped together with hairpin tried to lessen the serious mood.

“How did you end up being a hunter Eld?” Levi muttered over the old classmate.

“To be honest I don’t know.” Eld reached for beeping transmitter again, checking for location of other hunting units “I’ve just become one along with being mechanic. Trying to get more jobs, I guess.”

 

Other duo now revealed to be a woman and man rolled their eyes the Levi as he was a burden to their job. There were supposed to be chasing the predators and shooting them down, not randomly talking with ex-classmates. Woman was about to complain when buzzing sound from transmitter was heard.

 

“What it is Gunther? Did you find the boy?” Eld’s voice expressed nothing but concern.

“Not just find him, someone from other unit shot him! Twice!” panicking voice answered, confirming other’s fear “We’re cancelling extermination entirely!”

“Copy that. Are paramedics on the way?” blond wouldn’t calm down.

“They’re already approaching. We found him near the main road and I hope that suspicion about flesh wounds is correct.” Gunther replied “I also contacted the higher ups who agreed to stop with shooting.”

 

Levi was relieved of how everything turned out to be. Not only Marco was going to be alright, even the wolves weren’t in danger anymore. But that didn’t mean emerald eyed wolf would be alright as well. Shooting may have stopped, sparing the lives of the ones who ran for their life. But what about the ones who didn’t outrun the bullets of death? What about the wolves that lay in their own pool of blood, eyes staring emptily into the moonlight and limbs remaining still, never to move again.

 

He dismissed the thoughts about death as he watched hunters going towards the meeting place, suggesting him to go back to his own house. They were right about that, since there was only little day light remaining he had to hurry in order to get back. Flashlight was useful, but not dependable in the woods.

 

Using memory as a map, Levi pointed himself to north where his home was. He used that path so many times during morning jogs that he could go through it blindfolded. It never changed, only ground became covered with either autumn leaves or snow. Trees and bushes stayed as well as many rocks, one particularly in fact. It looked more like a piece of boulder that was cracked from the mountain and rolled all the way into the valley. Every time he passed that rock various objects would be there; either a piece of fabric, broken doll, trash bag or even a tire of a truck. Levi had no idea how the thrown away stuff got there in the first place. No matter how many times he had removed it, it would mysteriously reappear again. Perhaps some kid from nearest house liked to play with rubbish. Teenager named Connie dated Hanji’s daughter after all and enjoyed pulling pranks on everyone with her.

 

Out of curiosity, he approached the rock, expecting to see another weird item. What he actually saw made him gasp out a surprise.

 

Hidden behind the rock was curled wolf, heavily breathing as its paws twitched from the pain. Levi carefully got closer, watching not to point the flashlight directly into its closed eyes. Extend of injuries made him gasp for the second time. Wolf’s left front leg and right back leg were literally holed from the bullets, blood gathering into a puddle underneath it. Wounds were also on its head, chest, not to mention weird substance coming out of its mouth. Animal looked dead and yet it still seemed to fight for its life.

 

Without a second thought Levi discarded his old cold, not bothering with a trail that would be left on it, he was going to throw it away either way. Wolf unconsciously whined from the pain of being lifted. Expecting the heavy weight like Thomas’ were, man was surprised of how light the wolf was almost as he would carry a small child. Levi set the bundle in his arms so the creature was feeling as comfortable as possible.

Turning towards the right direction, male rushed back, forming a plan of what he would do when coming home. Wolf definitely needed medical attention that was for sure. Levi had a CPR certificate, but he didn’t have skills such as bullet removal, stitching or treating a wounded animal. He could bandage the poor animal a bit, but it still needed a vet.

 

By the time he reached his own house, the old coat was already soaked with blood. Wolf was getting worse as its breaths became lighter each passing minute. Levi didn’t care if it was some other wolf or the one he was seeking for so long. Wolf was dying in his arms and he was the only person who could change that.

He gently put him on fluffy carpet as he reached for the house phone, instantly dialing the number of Hanji’s clinic. Fortunately it was answered after the first ring.

 

“Animal Clinic Zoe. How can I help you?” man’s voice asked, recognized as Moblit’s.

“It’s Levi, get me Hanji on phone and fast!” black haired shouted, probably scaring a shit out of Hanji’s shy husband.

“Of course! Just… give me… a second.” Moblit shivered, rushing to get the female vet.

 

Seconds became minutes before brunette’s voice was heard.

 

“Midget? You there?” she asked, hearing nothing but other’s quick breaths. As he had waited for Hanji to come, he witnessed something that didn’t get well with reality. When looking back at the bundle to check on wolf, creature didn’t seem to be there anymore.

 

Instead of it, boy with a brown mess of hair was there, wounded in the same way the wolf was. Coat luckily covered most of his body, confirming he was naked. On the spot where ears were supposed to be, a pair of furred wolf ears took place. Besides them also the wolf tail remained, limply lying on the floor. Levi mentally slapped himself until he finally realized he wasn’t daydreaming or collecting ideas for the next supernatural novel. Wolf was a boy and boy was wolf. And he was dying.

 

“Hello? Do you hear me?” Hanji’s voice kicked him back into logical thinking. What could he do? Female vet could treat a wolf in secret, but what about the boy who didn’t appear to be human? Should he take him to vet or doctor since he wasn’t sure into which world it belonged? In the end Levi hanged up, dialing other number.

 

“Freedom Falls Surgical Department. With which surgeon do you wish to speak?” female operating voice asked.

“Dr. Erwin Smith! It’s an emergency!” he tried to get control over his breathing, relieved when he was connected to Erwin immediately after a polite “ _Please wait a moment”_.

“State your emergency.” blond said calmly as any professional doctor would.

“Erwin, a kid was shot near my house. I need you to…” Levi started immediately, only to be interrupted by the surgeon.

“If you’re talking about Marco Bott, we already treated him. Bullets luckily left only the flesh wounds.” he stated.

“No, another kid was shot too and he’s going to fucking bleed to death if damage to internal organs won’t finish him first!” Levi kept glancing at barely alive brunet.

“Why did you call me instead of regular paramedics?!” blond covered his mouth from the shock.

“You have to trust me on this one Eyebrows! Prepare a room as isolated as you can and be prepared for massive bullet removal, broken bones and possible internal bleedings. I’ll bring him to you in ten minutes!” black haired hanged up, knowing Erwin would do as he said since his intentions were always right.

 

Man quickly touched the boy’s neck to feel weak pulse and took two of his belts. Fastened around brunet’s wounded arm and leg, they prevented further bleeding. Scooping the boy in his hands and tucking tightly him into coat even more, Levi put him on the backseat. He adjusted seatbelts to keep him on the same spot during the wild ride he needed endure in order to get him to Erwin in time.

 

The whole ride was a mixture of glances on the backseat and sharp turns as he pressed on the gas. It really took him ten minutes without any serious casualties when he saw glowing sign of _Freedom Falls Hospital._ He noticed Erwin in the back of the building waving, stretcher next to him.

Levi pulled on the breaks, luckily fast enough to not hit other parked cars. He instantly got to the backseat, picking barely alive bundle into his arms. Erwin set the stretcher closer, Levi making sure to cover the ears and tail when putting him on it. Without any words, blond wheeled the injured kid inside, getting in lift along with the black haired. As they went down, neither said the world, Erwin not needing an average description of what was wrong.

 

Moment they got into an empty room meant for surgeries, blond threw surgical gown, mask, cap and pair of gloves to other.

 

“All others are busy with patients from traffic accident. I need you to assist me, so put that on and do whatever I tell you.” Erwin said as he removed the coat off the unconscious boy, his eyes widening at the sight of wolf ears and tail.

“I’ll explain after you get him out of critical condition! Just save the kid’s freaking life!” Levi yelled when struggling to get the gown on properly “He breathes raspy!”

“Must be rib puncturing into his lung.” blond mumbled when going through boy’s chest until finding the correct bone. He pushed it back on its original place, brunet noticeably taking a normal breath.

 

Erwin proceeded to getting a mask onto boy’s mouth, setting a mixture of oxygen and anesthetic. He also attached wires, monitoring brunet’s pulse. Gases returned some of the color, but blood still didn’t stop. Blond let the belts stay on the same places as he instructed Levi to get him certain tools for removing the bullets.

 

They needed hours before all bullets were out, open wounds stitched and head injury bandaged. Kid had even lost pulse once and needed to be revived by electrical shocks. Erwin also did an x-ray, noticing few fractures that weren’t much of a threat and were to be treated after other wounds healed. The whole time Levi assisted in any way he could, hoping that brat was stubborn enough to survive.

 

After making sure that brunet was properly monitored, IV stuck into his arm and blanket covering his shivering form, duo finally took seats and removed the masks. Even though Erwin done most of the treating, Levi was an exhausted one, but glad the wolf-kid was out of danger.

Blond went through x-ray pictures again, studying how the tail was attached to the boy. Hoping the other knew he turned towards him.

 

“I don’t have the slightest idea how that is possible, but I found him as a wolf. He turned into a boy after I took him into the house.” Levi described as scientifically as possible.

“Something is going on in Freedom Falls and I bet the kid is part of it.” Erwin started removing the surgical gown, covered by blood.

 

From the moment that Levi had found the dying wolf, he in some way wished to be the green eyed and not in the other way. He hadn’t wanted the creature to die after finding it after so many years. There was one in million possibility it was the same wolf, but Levi was determined enough to avoid the opposite fact.

Dragging the seat next to the temporal surgical bed on which boy was resting, black haired watched him breathing through the mask and chest rising with each breath. Brunet looked so peaceful, as fragile as he was a porcelain doll. His skin recovered the lost color, healthy tanned as he had distant origins.

 

“They need me for a regular checkup. Can you watch over him until I’m back?” Erwin asked, earning a nod from Levi “If anything happens, just press the blue button. That one is my personal bell, so only I will be required to come. Also press it if kid wakes up.”

 

Levi was left alone with sleeping boy. It was probably pass the midnight, his eyes twitching from tiredness. Male was in situations when he averagely slept two or three hours, but the effort he put into saving the wolf-boy worn him out completely. Soon both of them were asleep, black haired gently squeezing the boy’s uninjured hand as his head rested close to his own.

 

…

 

Black haired had no feeling for a time passing, but it was still dark outside so it wasn’t morning yet. Levi cursed over uncomfortable position, stretching his neck and blinking until his tired sight got better. When his eyes adjusted to all the colors, only one type remained.

 

Brilliant emerald colored eyes were staring at him and in that moment Levi knew.

 

He and the wolf were together once again.

 

As calmly as he could, he pressed the blue button.   

 

 

...

 

Preview for the next chapter: The Writer And The Wolf

 

<http://fav.me/d8eddam>

 

Levi: Are you telling me these are real?

Eren: Yup!

 

You can thank my good friend for making this adorable fanart. Stay tooned!

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took so long to update, but I really wanted to make it great since I recieved so many comments and kudos from you all. Thank you so much for reading it and please tell me if the second chapter was alright! I like if people are honest about my work, so that I know if there are any mistakes to fix and make it better then next time. :D
> 
> Whenever I write anthing I keep jumping from role of a writer to the role of a reader, so it takes a bit more time. Also I wrote another fanfic True Wings of Freedom, but I guess I'll stick to the Warm Me Up since it obviously has more readers. 
> 
> I'm sad to say that my exam term begins soon, so it would be really difficult for me to update weekly as a regular fanfic writer. If not sooner, expect the next chapter around the middle of February. 
> 
> But again thank you for reading my fanfic :D You have no idea how happy I was after getting the first comment.


	3. The Writer and the Wolf

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Levi takes the wolf-boy home where he learns more about him. Also brunet tends to cause messes all the time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of all I REGRET NOTHING - THAT LONG AWAITED CHAPTER WAS FUN TO WRITE. :D
> 
> True that my grades will suffer a bit, but hey I think more clearly after I get all possible fanfic ideas out of my head. Due to my reckless decision to update, I'm not sure when the next chapter will be done. Well, whenever I update it, the plot will go according to the result of a bet that I made with a friend of mine. It's actually pretty weird one, based on what will happen in Shingeki no Kyojin chapter 66. If my theory is correct then I'll continue Warm Me Up as I originally planned, if it's not or my friend's theory comes true (which is very unlikely) I'm changing the plot. Like I said it's totally ridicules, but I'd like to see how will it turn out. ;)
> 
> Also I finally figured out how to reply on the comments so if there's anything you wanna ask, you can expect a reply from me (though I'm not sure if I should reply on the past comments). I can already tell you that I won't be giving spoilers, but I can give you hints, though be careful when asking for them. I possess a unique talent of making cliffhangers out of cliffhangers (just like Hajime Isayama :P ).
> 
> Now I will shut up (like you probably want me to) and let you enjoy the new chapter. ;)

Nothing felt better than the fact that your best friend is going to be alright. That’s at least what Jean felt when receiving a call from Freedom Falls Hospital. Since Marco’s parents worked abroad, meaning in different states, doctors were unable to contact them. So they checked the most recent calls from Marco’s cellphone, finding Jean almost immediately.

He rushed to the hospital as soon as he could. By that time he was still waiting in the bookstore, hoping Levi would call back and told him anything regarding the freckled boy. Moment he hung up, Petra offered him ride to the hospital since her house was near as well as Jean’s. It was kind of interesting of how much he found out about auburn haired woman in just few hours of waiting for news about Marco. Even during the half hour drive there, the two of them were still talking, leading Petra to give Jean her number just before he exited the red car.

Soon fair haired stood in front of the room number 27, the one in which Marco was currently recovering. From what he heard, Marco had been accidently shot twice. One shot had brushed up his upper arm when other managed to hit the part between shoulder and chest, penetrating him deep between the ribs. Thanks to the quick x-ray, doctors had been able to get the bullet out before insides could get infected. Stitching all the cuts, freckled teen had been given stiff painkillers so he could have more peaceful night of recovery.

Taking the deep breath Jean opened the door, afraid of what to expect. He walked in with small steps as his eyes gradually took in the surroundings. 

“You can open your eyes Jean. I’m still in one piece.” cheerful voice brightened the room in seconds.

Marco was indeed in one piece. Besides bandages around his chest and upper arm, he looked as same as always, grinning like an idiot he was.

“Why the fuck did you go photographing? You could’ve been killed!” he snapped, grabbing the edges of hospital bed.  
“I’m sorry…” black haired sighed as he leaned back against the big pillow.  
“For fuck’s sake, don’t apologize.” Jean grabbed his forehead to let out a mix of relief and anger.

Other teen watched him, not sure what to do. Marco had a unique talent of cheering up people no matter in what kind of shitty mood they were. But he doubted that it would work on a messed up state in which fair haired currently was. If he were to be serious, it wouldn’t suit him at all, making the other more suspicious. So, he waited for Jean to calm down before saying anything.  
Jean on the other hand was pretty much having a fight of thoughts in his head. One part wanted to literally strangle Marco for making him worry to the point of being sick to stomach when other just wanted to hug the freckled boy tight and never let him go. Decision was in fact hard to make since both actions would hurt the confused patient. 

Fortunately the third person solved the problem by coming into the room. Neither of duo knew the blond haired doctor despite looking familiar.   
“So how are you feeling Marco?” doctor set the stethoscope under boy’s hospital gown.  
“Okay I guess.” he switched to his casual grin “I don’t feel my arm though.”  
“That’s good. It means painkillers are working.” blond moved the plastic disc to the part where lungs were, listening to its steady sounds.

While Marco was being looked over fair haired took a glimpse of doctor’s nametag – dr. Erwin Smith. He wasn’t sure why he bothered looking, but he wanted to ask him more of how his friend was shot and if he’s going to be alright. Jean observed the doctor as the man also checked the bandages, measured blood pressure and took the boy’s temperature. Lastly he asked him similar question of how was he feeling and stuff, before writing something on the clipboard.

“If I may ask, what were you doing in the woods at such a late hour?” Erwin set the pen for taking further notes.  
“I was photographing.” Jean could felt uneasiness in Marco’s voice “It’s my hobby and I had a great natural light for my latest project.”  
“But were you aware of how short are the days in the winter time? And according to your medical file you live much further from location where you were found. What were you doing there?” doctor’s tone changed into more serious one.  
“I… I was… going to…” Marco face turned red, cheeks pulsating like traffic lights “… take few shots of the sunrise and then… go home.”  
“Oh come on, admit that you wanted to visit your dear Heichou.” Jean interrupted dishonest conversation making the freckled boy flinch at the mention of his idol.

Despite the awkwardness of situation, doctor let out a loud chuckle, duo giving him a puzzled look. 

“What is so funny?” Marco, still red from embarrassment clenched the blanket close to himself.  
“Nothing really, it just surprised me that you’re familiar with a good friend of mine.” Erwin finished writing those few sentences on the clipboard. 

The rest of the talk went about of how he knew that Levi was the author of his favorite book series at which Erwin chuckled one more time. The whole time Jean was quiet since he didn’t want to interrupt something that Marco was obviously enjoying. When they finally finished, doctor checked if everything was in order, assuring the fair haired that practically nothing was wrong.

“I’m not supposed to say it, but by being shot, you saved many lives.” Erwin said while setting a bag of painkillers to IV.  
“Could you finally tell me what the shooting was all about?!” Jean had enough of his calm and polite mood “Mr. Ackerman mentioned it and you also know about it! What is going on in this town?”

Blond let out a sigh as he dragged the chair closer to duo. He checked the watch to see he still had some time to explain. 

“Did you know professor Nile Dawk by any chance?” doctor started carefully.  
“Well yeah, he taught history on High School Rose until he got murdered.” Jean replied still furious.  
“He was also our class teacher. Never really liked him though.” Marco added, surprising the other when admitting to not like someone.  
“His death triggered the town’s council to take care of the problem.” Erwin tried to sound calm, but kept remembering every bullet he had pulled out of the wolf kid “They arranged the shooting to take care of all wolves that were considered as threat to the town.”

Both teens widened their eyes, not sure of what to say. They both had no idea about town’s deadly background since any wildlife attacks or murders weren’t reported until recently. Like most of inhabitants they were surrounded by so called walls of lies without even realizing.

“But since the action showed many disadvantages such as disorganization and recklessness, shooting was canceled entirely. Until the whole report is made and all other things settled as they should be, council isn’t allowed to have any influence in town’s matters.” Erwin explained using knowledge of what Mike had told him through phone, soon after he had treated the wolf kid “In the meantime both of you, especially Marco try to avoid woods. Hunters might be gone, but other dangers are still present.”  
“You mean wolves?” Jean raised his eyebrows “Aren’t they gone? I mean not that all were shot down, but wouldn’t they be scared to come back?”  
“I didn’t only mean the wolves.” doctor said, feeling buzzing in his pocket “Danger can be there in lots of forms even in form of your own clumsiness. Now if you excuse me, I have a patient to examine.”

Erwin knew that his personal calling button could mean two things. Wolf kid was either awake or his state has worsen during those few hours. Leaving the duo, blond nearly raced towards the nearest elevator almost running into a luckily empty wheelchair in the middle of the hall. He pressed the button to the second lowliest floor where his patient along with Levi was waiting. Below it were only storeroom and morgue, places he rather avoided.   
When opening the door he almost crushed into the black haired carrying a handful of blankets and surgical towels. Fortunately none of them fell off the huge pile that Levi was struggling to carry.

“What’s going on? Is he awake?” Erwin proceeded to get to makeshift bed.  
“I’m not sure. He opened his eyes, but then started shivering with cold!” other followed as he started putting all pieces of fabrics on the boy whose eyes were wide opened and all limbs twitching like having a seizure.

Blond immediately reached for tiny flashlight, checking boy’s pupils that showed little activity as he continued to shiver. Then he took boy’s temperature, gasping at the unexpected result. 

“Body temperature looks fine and room is pretty much warm. I don’t know what is affecting him.” doctor held the boy down so his violent movements wouldn’t hurt him “Did you try to speak with him?”  
“The hell broke loose before I could!” Levi wrapped the last blanket around kid’s head which finally calmed him down. His green eyes slipped back into same sleeping state in which he was before, body becoming still except for the evenly raising and falling chest.   
Despite the seemingly peaceful situation, Erwin did a detailed examination careful not to remove any of the heating sources. The whole time Levi observed the machines in case pulse or breathing would suddenly change.

“It seems as he reacts on the warmth, though I can’t tell why.” blond said as he took some blood out of skinny arm “I can run some tests, but those will take days to be done properly.”  
“What about other injuries?” his look landed on bandaged arm, part of it peeking through thick covers.  
“I was about to check them, though I doubt wounds are any different. Since they were so deep it will take days before stiches can be removed.” he began gently uncoiling the limb, rolling the other end into wrap. What he saw under it made him drop the neatly set bandage.   
Under normal circumstances Erwin would expect stitched cuts dripping blood or at least fresh scabs. Neither of those was there, only fading scars in bright pink color that were above whole new layers of skin. Threads were barely an unneeded decoration on perfectly fine tissue. For some reason injuries of a wolf boy healed in couple of hours; damage for what a normal human would need at least a week. Levi didn’t need medical knowledge to knot that what was in front of him was beyond normal. 

“Erwin…” black haired was too surprised to use his friend’s nickname.  
“We can’t keep him here for long.” blond removed the wires connecting to heart monitor and gas mask “If not sooner, the night cleaners will come to clean it up.”  
“But can’t you use your terrific status to keep them away?” Levi followed him around, catching whatever Erwin threw to him.  
“Higher ups would wish to see the patient. If he were to be in serious condition, they’d understand and room would be without a permission to enter at least one more day. Sooner or later some other patient would need this room as well.” he instructed him while filling tiny bag with various medical, objects “Not to mention he has freaking ears, tail and extreme healing abilities.”  
“The only safe place would be my house then?” black haired grimaced a bit, but quickly remember that it was him who had wanted to take care of green haired wolf.  
“I like it when you think ahead of me.” Erwin smiled as he checked his watch “It’s around nine p.m. already, so the hospital wing in the back will be pretty much empty. Though I can’t guarantee we won’t run into anybody who would be suspicious of unconscious kid with animal ears.”

Levi thought a bit, changing into mood for brainstorming. He’d usually used it when running out of novel ideas though the idea he needed right now was far different. Glancing at the set of packet bandages, wheelchair and pile of warm fabrics under which boy was sleeping created a spark of ideas he needed. Since healing abilities took care of pretty much all injuries there was no fear of moving him around. They just needed to be careful of not removing the heat sources off due to boy’s reaction of being exposed to the cold. In case someone would see them, bandages were useful for another thing. As gently as he could Erwin wrapped them around boy’s head, tucking the ears under it so it would look like a normal head injury besides the one that had already healed up. With a help of Levi, kid was placed on the wheelchair, head leaning against the shoulders for support. 

“Are you sure you can take care of him? You don’t know how he will react after he fully wakes up.” Erwin’s hand was prepared to open the door.  
“Better at my place than here.” Levi muttered, ready to wheel the kid out “Otherwise he’ll end up as a fucking lab rat.”  
“Good luck then. I put everything necessary you might need into this bag. If anything happens you can call my cellphone’s number, I’ll keep it close.” blond opened the door, leading the black haired who pushed the wheelchair towards the elevator. 

Despite the late hour, nurses and doctors were presented almost around every corner. Fortunately they were far too busy to mind the trio of doctor, patient and visitor. The whole time wolf kid was still asleep and quiet. The only sounds he made were quiet whimpers whenever the wheelchair bounced or sharp turn was made. Levi took in mind to watch where he was going and observing the boy’s condition at the same time. Kid’s life was literally in his hands and if everything were to happen to him, it would be his responsibility.   
Reaching the parking lot, Levi’s black car was still there parked as awkwardly as it was left. Throwing the keys to Erwin, who opened the door to driver’s seat, black haired scooped thick bundle of blankets with kid in it. Placing him in the car and securing him with a seatbelt Levi was ready to go. Erwin was going to say something but just waved, gesturing his good luck to him instead. 

During the drive to his house, a classical CD totally made him forgot about the time. Just three long tracks and he was already home. It was really dark and Levi was grateful for listening to Hanji about getting extra lights outside before someone would broke a neck due to poor visibility. They turned on automatically so he didn’t need to bother with looking for a switch while carrying unconscious boy around. Not wanting to experience another of boy’s fits Levi hurried inside before the cold between heated car and house could do any harm.   
Carpet was still soaked with now dried blood as well as the phone still hanging by a wire. Man sure had no idea just what kind of mess he left behind. Not bothering with a sudden burst if his OCD, Levi gently put the boy on sofa along with thick bundle of fabrics wrapped around him. Before tending to wolf-kid’s needs he went to check if heating was working properly. Since it was inspected recently there weren’t any possibilities about breaking down, but black haired know more than better to rather check ten times than screw up a single time. All systems seemed to be functioning fine, so man was left with nothing but to take care of the wolf-boy.

But what exactly could he do? Kid was already tucked into numerous blankets under which probably felt like oven. Sofa felt comfortable enough to serve as a proper bed, not to mention that brunet was already deep in calm sleep. Supposedly he would sit next to him, reading a book or try impossible of trying to update his novel while waiting for kid to wake up. He could do that, but bloodied carpet wouldn’t leave his OCD alone. How long would carpet washing possibly take? Ten or twenty minutes? More like an hour considering Levi’s precise standards of cleaning.   
Sighing with a curse, Levi grabbed the fluffy carpet on one end, dragging it towards the so called wash room. It looked like a mixture of launderette and broom closet with a huge plastic tub meant for washing anything that wouldn’t fit the washing machine. He poured some strong cleaning fluids into steaming water while putting bandana over his hair and mouth. When tub was full he put on rubber gloves that reached all the way to his elbows under rolled up sleeves. With a loud splash carpet was dropped, turning the bubbly water into dark shade of pink. 

“That sure is a lot of blood.” Levi mumbled as he rubbed the fabric full of redness. Kid sure was lucky to survive. Normal human child wouldn’t stand a chance to such injuries.

By thinking about normal, what kind of being he actually was? Levi saw enough B-rated movies and supernatural fiction to state that he had a werewolf in his house. But not just any kind of werewolf. Apparently he was more like a shifter who could fully take a form of wolf and turn back into ordinary kid. Well almost ordinary if you dismissed the ears and tail. Until now the whole thing seemed like a poorly written story that Levi was forced to continue without any motivation. Young werewolf was the one who decided to turn everything upside down. 

Thoughts continued to boil in seemingly expressionless face of a writer who after what felt like hours finished with washing. He wringed it out to the last drop and careful not to slip on scrubbed floor went to drying room. One of laundry stands still had a pile of clothes waiting to be picked as other was empty, soon loaded by grey freshly washed carpet. Levi was about to take care of the rest of laundry when his house phone rang.   
Discarding bandanas and gloves along the way he rushed to get the phone. His mood was luckily placid in order to answer as a polite man he pretended to be.

“Yes?” he replied, flood of questions covering him in bare seconds.  
“What the actual fuck is that, midget?! You call me during the busiest part of the day, saying it’s urgent and then just break off as I’m a simple garbage?!” the furriest voice turned out to be Hanji’s.   
“Calm down Four-Eyes, I… accidently made a mistake.” Levi moved receiver further from his ear in case brunette’s voice became deafening.  
“You might be a convincing writer, but I know when you’re lying!” she shouted through phone, probably sending creeps to both her poor husband and animals at clinic “From what Moblit told me you were panicking and saying it’s an emergency! There’s no actual fucking way you’d done that by accident!”

Levi sighed as he leaned against the wall. He was far too tired from everything to find a proper way to explain. Both he and Erwin agreed to keep the boy’s secret from everyone, including Hanji. Even though she was a brilliant vet who could’ve studied the wolf-kid, she was a way too passionate about experimenting not to mention Hanji had a big mouth. Also less people knew fewer casualties to come.

“I wasn’t lying when I said it was an emergency neither when it was an accident.” black haired said after clearing the throat “A kid was shot near my house and I guess I called the wrong number due to panic.”  
“You guess? Levi, since the moment you answered you’re talking nothing but rubbish!” Hanji wasn’t to give up “What the heck is going on with you? Ever since the night you left the Wings you aren’t acting like yourself at all.”

Writer again sighed, running a hand through his hair and hoping the conversation would be over soon. When looking around the living room, he nearly slumped against the closet where he kept the phonebook due to shock.

Sofa was empty save for a few blankets that were lying on ground and coffee table. 

In the whole hour or however time he needed to wash the carpet, wolf-kid somehow fully recovered and decided to wonder off. That’s at least what he concluded, judging the positions of dropped fabrics and moved furniture. 

“Hello? Are you ignoring me midget?” Levi almost forgot he still had Hanji on phone.  
“Look, now really isn’t the time. I call you back as soon as I can, heck we can even meet up at Wings. Bye!” he quickly hung up before any protests could be made from the other side.

Now where could brunet possibly go? He surely hoped he was still in the house. It was already eleven p.m. – time when it was too dark and too cold to be outside looking for kid with nothing but flashlight. Just in case he went to check all doors and other possible exits, including the windows. Fortunately all were intact without a trace of being unlocked or in any way used.   
Sigh of relief was made as Levi heard a sound coming from kitchen. It was a mixture of quiet whimpers and thuds. Not that wolf-kid was awake; he’d seemed to get all needed functions back, ability to move around at least. But when reaching the counter, black haired was surprised at the unlikely sight. 

On all fours, dressed into nothing but a hospital gown, brunet was bashing his head against the wooden furniture letting out whimpers with each thud. His eyes squeezed and face grimacing from pain as he continued with pointless action. 

“Oi! What are you doing?” Levi called, trying not to touch the restless boy who didn’t seem to hear him “Brat!”

At the sound of harsh tone, brunet suddenly stayed still. His emerald eyes stared into men’s grey ones still gasping from previous action. Bashing caused him another cut on his forehead for which he didn’t pay attention. Boy’s focus was entirely directed towards a certain man who wasn’t exactly happy for another mess in a form of partly broken cupboard and puzzled wolf-boy.   
Brunet seemed as he was going to say something, but broke that theory when he started clawing his head as the main goal was to get all skin off. 

“Hey stop it!” man proceeded to grab a hold of both skinny wrists before further damage could be done “What’s wrong?”

Boy let out a sob as he desperately tried to get hands on his head and that’s when Levi realized the problem. Bandages that Erwin had wrapped around brunet’s head to hide the ears were still there, tied tightly. They were obviously highly uncomfortable for the poor kid.  
Levi immediately grabbed a scissors and cut through the white fabric, accidently cutting off some of the hair away. Normal person would probably rage over the ruined hairstyle, but boy was overjoyed his ears were out, moving them into various directions. Black haired surprisingly smiled and unconsciously petted the head of confused kid who slightly flinched to the touch. 

“Your ears sure seem to be real.” Levi scratched the part behind the ears, earning a relaxed sound from other that made something that looked like a nod “Can you talk?”

Brunet shrugged, not sure of how to respond. 

“So you understand me, but you lack the ability to speak?” writer made a statement onto which wolf-boy made another nod, bringing knees to his chest. Tail that was completely forgotten about twitched between his legs, giving a sign of being frightened.   
“Hey it’s alright I won’t hurt you.” Levi had no idea from where his caring personality was coming. Perhaps it had been slowly building up ever since the wolf gave him the needed warmth. Trying not to think about unnecessary, Levi gently lifted the boy onto his feet.

Action surprised him to the point of freaking out, but staring into man’s rather expressionless than scary face calmed him down for some reason. When completely standing, boy grabbed onto counter as his tail wagged wildly, trying to get balance. If situation wasn’t serious writer might’ve even laugh at the adorable sight of brunet’s attempts to walk like toddler. He even acted like one when looking around with pure curiosity and feeling about being lost.

The scene of wolf-boy trying to walk would probably continue if growling from brunet’s tummy wasn’t heard. Blushing as red as tomato, kid tried to block it with hand only to earn a concerned look from Levi. When was the last time the youngster ate a proper meal? From the look of him he’d say a long time ago due to emaciated body. At some parts bones were visible and even though boy’s skin was tanned it looked sickly pale.  
Taking a new plan in mind, Levi went to check which ingredients were available, brunet following him around like a cute puppy he was. Man opened the fridge looking for meat and the vegetables, not realizing what was happening behind his back. The moment cold spread out of the fridge, wolf-kid screamed in terror as he crawled away from the coldness, limbs shaking from the fit.

“Damm it I forgot!” Levi closed it in a rush while getting his own jacket around shivering boy. Brunet needed whole ten minutes before the warmth from the cloth did its effect. Unconsciously or maybe out of pure instinct boy reached for Levi’s waist, getting more body heat. In that moment, man was taken back to that cold day when wolf was snuggled to his freezing form. Roles were reversed, but the feeling was the same. His arms returned the hug at which the boy smiled, eyes sparkling from the shade of emerald.   
Levi’s hand was again on brunet’s head, this time pressing it against his chest as mother would to her child. Young wolf became more relaxed and despite not knowing the black haired writer he seemed to trust him completely. 

Since it wasn’t clever to leave the kid starving or cold, Levi thought about the best way to settle everything. 

“I think that the thing you need right now is a hot bath. It will help you out, plus you still stink of blood and sweat.” not earlier than now he smelled the scent reeking from the curled form in his arms “Only after you smell like roses you get to eat.”

Scooping the brunet into his arms, kid not complaining about it while being too busy embracing the man, writer carried him towards the bathroom.   
If Levi knew a thing about warmth was that a bubble bath was doing miracles to his depressing winter days. To fill the tub he had to put the scowling kid on the carpeted ground where he waited rather impatiently. By now the cut was already healed up completely, only a pinkish mark remained.

“It will take a while before bath is ready. You strip down while I get you some clothes.” Levi left the boy to struggle with the buttons as he went to his bedroom, wardrobe to be precise. Not wanting to keep the kid alone, he grabbed the first pair of pajama pants, oversized t-shirt and boxes he found. After all, as clumsy and unpredictable as the brunet was he could go drowning himself in the filling bathtub.  
Luckily the boy was in the same state as he was left except he had got rid of hospital gown. He was already sitting on the edge of the bathtub, feet happily splashing emerging bubbles around. Black haired lay the clothes on the radiator then went to check the water’s temperature.

“You can jump in; it’s warm enough.” he nodded to brunet who excitedly hopped into the hot foamy water, splashing almost half of it out the tub including Levi’s sweatshirt “Not literally!” 

Wolf-boy had obviously too much fun with bubbles to notice the mess he caused. With a sigh, black haired grabbed a bucket and big rag to wipe away yet another mess certain someone made. He also took off the wet shirt, washing the foam away. He was going to put the other one on once he’d go to make dinner or more like midnight snack. As he wrung the rag for the last time, two orbs of green peeked over the edge of tub.

“You’re one messy brat.” Levi said at which boy only shook his head like a dog, bits of the foam landing on man’s face “Again, not literally!”

Brunet giggled at Levi’s grumpy expression as he ducked under water this time without bubbles on his head. Writer took the towel to wipe remaining wetness, glaring at the boy in the bathtub who gleamed of nothing but innocence. God, as much as the kid was the problem, his eyes and gestures made him so adorable that not even a serious man like him could resist. He was just cute to the point where his actual age was the real question there.   
According to the fact that kid was taller than him, Levi guessed brunet was in his teens though the behavior more likely belonged to a five year old. Either way kid seemed to be learning through various experiences. 

“Oi brat?” boy’s ears twitched at the call directed to him “Do you know how old you are?”

Question was indeed taken by the boy as he began staring at his hands, bending the fingers. It took him few tries before he was ready for an answer. Wolf-boy firstly showed both hands, fingers extending to prove he meant the whole number of fingers. Then he only showed one hand with thumb bended.

“You’re fourteen?” Levi asked at which brunet partly lifted the thumb “Almost fifteen?”

Boy smiled, nodding at the answer. Levi had at least one question answered honestly though the fact of how brunet understood him, but was unable to talk puzzled him.

“Too bad you can’t count out your name. It feels kind of weird to call you brat all the time.” man mumbled as he put the bucket and rag back into the closet. 

Levi was going to tell the boy to finish with splashing soon when brunet suddenly reached out of the tub. Man’s first guess was that he needed something, but boy’s hand was directed towards the mirror. Steam of the hot water clouded the glass with white, turning into temporary board.   
As brunet’s finger slid over the mirror, Levi gasped from surprise.

Wolf-boy actually knew how to write.

Well or at least he was doing his best in trying to. First letter was a bit messy, but Levi could sort out the letter E. The second one was even messier and after few attempts to read it turned out to be R. 

“Please don’t tell me your name is also Erwin. One is more than enough.” man sighed, looking at the next letter which wasn’t hard to read since it was messily identical to the first one. 

“E-R-E-….” Levi pronounced out loud until boy was done with the last letter “…-N. Your name is Eren?”

Instead of childish smile, boy named Eren chose to clap for Levi to sort out the code that was his terrible handwriting. Great, now he knew both the age and name, not the full one, but better than nothing, of a young wolf shifter. 

“But I think brat still suits you.” Levi grabbed the towel, gesturing him to get out of the tub.

Eren understood and before black haired could wipe his soaked body he had shaken all water off. Most of it landed on the wall and certain someone in front of him. By now writer was seriously pissed about getting wet and was hardly gentle when tucking the brunet into a towel. 

“After you dry up put those clothes on and come back to living room.” black haired unclogged the tub “I’ll be in the kitchen cooking.”

Eren nodded at instructions and dried the rest of his hair then moving to waggling tail. Moment Levi got out of the bathroom he finally dared to curse due to previous actions. In one single day, not really a day more like afternoon plus evening someone made him pissed AND softened from cuteness. That wasn’t happening, no he was just caught in ridicules dream that he won’t in any way use for his novels. Only Hanji who would call him midget was needed to make his day even more awkward.  
Well it wasn’t the annoying brunette, but Eren was done rather quickly, running around in Levi’s pants that didn’t cover ankles, literally screaming of how short Levi was. Writer only face palmed, noticing the brat getting nestled up on sofa using the dropped blankets. His tail was projecting through double layer of pants and boxers, nearly revealing Eren’s butt.  
Levi rather turned towards the kitchen before his mind would start thinking dirty. He already put on a fresh sweater, hoping he won’t need to change it soon. Grabbing the box of vegetables and beef, he decided for a simple beef stew. It didn’t take too much time to fry the meat, mix it with some water, add the chopped veggies and leave it to cook for some time. In case Eren was literally hungry as wolf, he went to prepare an extra sandwich with cheese and ham. 

Putting it on the coffee table, brunet instantly woke from a little nap, mouthwatering at the smell of food. His wolf instinct might’ve told him to be careful of what he was eating, but hunger of the past two weeks screamed to eat whatever was edible. Sandwich felt way better than that rabbit that he had caught after an hour of chasing. Practically swallowing it, Eren patiently waited for seconds. 

Stew needed a couple a minutes to cook, so Levi turned the TV on, hoping it would distract Eren until the dinner was done. Since nothing was on TV during the night, writer switched the channel to DVD player that was still stuck in the middle of a movie. By some ironic reason the title of the movie was White Fang. Brat only grinned at the sight of other huskies that appeared in the movie while Levi went to check on the beef stew. 

His unseen obsession with wolves was slowly showing, soon to have no choice but to admit that the emerald eyed wolf enchanted him with its nature. It wasn’t just that he felt that he needed to return the favor of saving him.  
After realizing wolf’s secret he started feeling the tingling feeling in his heart, the one about he wrote about many times, but never really experienced. Was he actually falling in love with Eren? No, that couldn’t be possible. Eren was barely a brat, not to mention a wolf shifter that lacked intelligence of his rightful age. 

Bubbling kicked him out of his dreaming state as he set a bowl and spoon before removing the stew out the stove. Pouring the steaming dish with big pieces of beef, potatoes and carrots in the bowl he took it to kid, whose mouth was flooded with own watering. Shoving the spoon into the beef stew and immediately into mouth, Eren’s eyes gleamed from the delicious taste.   
The next few minutes were mixture of kid’s munching and movie dialogs. Levi had an urge to ask more questions, but since brunet was too busy eating and staring into TV, writer decided to wait for him to finish and then go clean the kitchen. He wasn’t hungry so he only made a cup of tea for himself.

“Thank you, it was really tasty.” Levi spilled the tea when realizing from where the sound was coming from.

Eren just spoke and not like a child speaking for the first time. He was talking in very casual way, like entirely different person. 

“You’re… welcome.” black haired blurted out the first responding sentence that came to his mind. He was even more shocked at Eren talking than at the slacker he used to teach getting an A+. Boy on the other hand just curled up back into his fluffy nest, eyes glued on the movie. Brunet sure was one hell of a mystery to figure out. 

Not to be interrupted by the movie, Levi turned it off earning a confused look from the brat.  
“Why did you turn it off? I like this movie.” Eren continued babbling as it was the most random thing.  
“You told me that you can’t speak.” writer said thoughts reverting back to the moments when boy was communicating only with body language.  
“Oh, I guess I forgot how the whole thing goes.” brunet removed the annoying locks off his eyes as his memories burst inside his head.  
“Thing?” Levi’s eyes widened at what Eren nodded.  
“Yeah, every time I transform back into human form after being a wolf for longer time, I slowly adapt back to being human. I probably acted like a kid didn’t I?” brunet asked with childish grin.  
“You still do.” black haired replied, playfully slapping Eren’s grin out the face “How come you’re suddenly all… human like?”  
“In order to be normal I have to remember myself as a human. Movies are usually the thing that kicks me back into reality.” he explained casually, leading Levi to use the same tone.  
“So you just watch TV and turn into human? What’s the deal with the full moon and similar stuff then?” were man’s next questions.  
“First of all the full moon is a complete bullshit. The only thing it causes is more light and period to women. I mean moon is always there, it just happens to be completely visible for one day during each month. Though I wish moon was the cause of my transformation.” boy said while tightening a hold of his blankets.

Black haired had few theories, but stayed quiet and let Eren explain. So far, everything looked like an interrogation between a screwed up teenager and social worker. Not what Levi imagined when fantasizing about his wolf.

“What triggers my transformation is the temperature drop. Moment I feel too cold, my senses turn into wolf ones and I morph into predator.” brunet suddenly began trembling “What truly sucks is that I’m no longer a human when transforming into a wolf. I’m a bare animal! A creature that acts only on instinct of killing or be killed!”

Discussion left him gasping, tail between his legs and ears down as kicked puppy. His expression might’ve seemed as a cause of anger, but in reality it was absolute sadness that he carried even as a wolf. Not sure of what to do, Levi held him close and let him cry into freshly clean sweater. He didn’t care for the fact that the third clothing was being messed up by the sobbing brat in one day. All he cared was that Eren would eventually calm down and shared some of his pain with him. 

“You’re just a stranger and yet you act as I’m just a regular teenager. I don’t even remember how I ended up here or when was the last time I spent as a human.” Eren uttered as more tears were shed “Everything is so fucked up!”

Did brunet just called him a stranger? Or that he didn’t have any idea how he got here? Levi was sure his green eyes belonged to the same wolf cub, heck he was a fucking painter and clearly knew how to distinguish different shades. Not to mention not many wolves have emerald eyes.   
Was it that brunet couldn’t remember him at all if his instinct is purely kill or be killed? But if his pack had been starving that day, why would he’d chosen to ignore the instinct and act human?

“Eren.” Levi called gently, teary eyes facing up “Do you remember anything as wolf?”  
“Not really.” Eren used the blanket to dry the rest of tears “Sometimes if there are enough triggers, I can remember the bits but that’s just about it. It’s like hacking into well secured database.”  
“I see.” was writer’s short reply, though he really wanted to find more suitable way to respond.

Snuggling closer and dragging the nest of the blankets along wolf-boy relaxed into the lap of a man he didn’t recognize. Though he had a feeling he saw him before.

“What’s your name? I totally forgot about introduction and other cliché stuff.” Eren mumbled sleepily.  
“Levi Ackerman.” writer replied almost instantly.  
“Well Mr. Ackerman thank you for letting me stay here. I think some of my memories are back and if my mind isn’t playing tricks on me, you’re the one who made me human again.” boy’s eyes closed, words sounding like a lullaby to man’s ears “For that I’m truly grateful.”

Writer was about to say something about returning the favor, but decided to rather wait until Eren remembers on his own. He was after all confused enough for the amount of actions he experienced in one single day. 

“You can drop the formalities, just Levi works fine with me.” man stroked brunet’s soft locks, his eyes slowly closing at the warm touch “And you can stay here as long as you need.”

In matter of minutes Eren was already sound asleep, using Levi’s lap as the softest pillow. When black haired made sure brunet was truly deep in land of peaceful dreams, he leaned closer to his wolf ear. 

“I will protect you no matter what. You’re safe with me and even if you don’t remember me, I will surely never forget you.”

The meaningful sentence was finished by a soft kiss onto Eren’s forehead. Seeing everything was alright, Levi also drifted into land of sleep. 

Eren was with him and nothing else mattered.

 

…..

 

Blood everywhere he looked, snow turning crimson as well as his own fur and of other two wolves near him. Their eyes gleamed and fangs exposed due to constant growls they were making. Expressions were nothing but animalistic as they continued snarling at the human lying in the snow.

He wasn’t sure if human was alive. His flesh was missing at many places and blood was spreading like a torrent.   
Even if by any chance human was alive, two other wolves, one bright and other black furred, didn’t support human’s attempt to somehow survive. 

At the same the bright furred one bit into man’s throat as other ripped the abdomen apart. Man wasn’t able to get any voice out, only staring emptily into him.

He could swear that even after the human died, his finger was still pointed directly into him. 

Blood was suddenly all over him, on his paws, head and mouth.

And it tasted heavenly.

 

….

 

Eren screamed as he woke up from what he was sure wasn’t an imaginary nightmare. They were memories from not too long ago, remembering them as they just happened.

“What’s wrong, Eren?” Levi woke up as well, trying to cradle the scared brunet in order to calm him down.  
“I… I…” surge of emotions prevented him from speaking clearly, turning back into a crying mess.  
“Shhh it’s alright.” black haired held him closer “Dreams can hurt you only if you let them. Nothing is going to hurt you.”  
“No…” Eren sobbed “I’m the… one who… will… hurt others.”  
“What are you talking about?” Levi continued with gentle strokes through boy’s damp hair.  
“I remembered…” brunet buried his head deeper in man’s lap “When I was I wolf… I killed… I freaking killed someone!”

Black haired tried hard not to think about accident or Nile’s case as Eren trembled, hands covering his twitching ears.

“I’m nothing but a fucking murderer!” brunet shouted as exhaustion of the panic attack knocked him unconscious.


	4. Not Human, Not Wolf

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eren reveals his past to Levi and the two of them are surprised by unexpected visitor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of all I'm terribly sorry for nearly one week delay. I completely forgot about some assigments that I was supposed to be working on, not to mention I accidently deleted this chapter once due to being an idiot who goes saving three different files under the same name.
> 
> Also, soon (in a matter of week) I will post another fanfic called Messanger of Freedom (prince AU, pretty romantic) for which I'm again thanking you all who placed a vote for a fanfic I should post. I had over ten of them ready, so it was really hard to decide which one to post.
> 
> As always please leave a comment so I know if the story is okay and also if you have a question, I'd be happy to answer it.
> 
> Alright off to the next chapter then. :D

Levi wasn’t sure if he slept at all or not. That wasn’t nothing unusual since he was used to all-nighters whenever deadline for submission was approaching. Not to talk about the endless amount of tests, reports and essays he had to fix when he had been teaching Literature on High School Rose. Those had been a lot harder than majority of paperwork at his bookstore.

 

Eventually he managed to wake up, sun rays finding their way into living room through glass doors leading to terrace. After stretching his arms until shoulder blades would pop Levi noticed something fluffy under the blanket with which he had covered himself the previous night. Why had he chosen to sleep on the couch again? It definitely wasn’t out of comfortless since back was killing him and neck wasn’t any better. Before looking down he made sure that neck didn’t suffer too much as he slowly proceed to massage it. Only then he finally removed the blanket, nearly gasping at the sight.

 

The events from previous day weren’t just a dream he wished to happen. Wolf-boy was indeed real.

 

Curled up in ball with his head resting in Levi’s lap, Eren made quiet mumbling sounds while sleeping. His ears were flat against his brownish locks as the tail lay next to his legs. Other than that he looked extremely exhausted, seemingly enjoying the long awaited slumber.

Carefully reaching for the pillow, Levi slid it under Eren’s head, hoping that he won’t notice the difference. Wolf-boy didn’t seem to mind since he haven’t changed the position or stirred out of his sleep.

Levi would rather stay and watch him sleep, but the grumbling in his stomach make him move towards the kitchen. He decided to make something for himself since Eren didn’t look as he was going to wake up anytime soon. Putting on an apron and turning on the stove, writer opened the fridge, sighing at the half-empty contents. Great, he’ll need to go shopping soon. True he still had few cans to use, but he preferred fresh food. It had much more taste than the sealed beans that had been laying in cupboard for months.

Electric stove announced it was heated enough so Levi put a pan on it, pouring little oil on it. While pan was getting ready, he cracked three eggs into a bowl, mixed few spices and lastly add few pieces of cheese. Putting the mixture into frying pan it sizzled as he began scrambling the eggs all over, soon adding the pieces of ham and bacon. In the meanwhile food was ready along with a teapot of steaming herbal tea.

 

Writer was going to take a bite while reading the yesterday’s newspaper when suddenly another presence joined.

 

“Smells nice… what is it?” out of nowhere Eren was wide awake and eyeing the plate, sniffing the food in the same manner dog would.

“Scrambled eggs with some other stuff.” Levi replied, covering the surprise. It looked like as he would need to get used to Eren’s unpredictability.

“Can I get some too?” he asked, making those big puppy eyes that even Levi couldn’t resist. Instead of heading back to kitchen he pushed his own plate towards him since Eren seemed way hungrier than he was. Wolf-boy nearly reached for the bite as man slapped his hand away from the food.

“Wash your hands first. They’re filthy.” writer beckoned towards the sink.

“They seem completely fine to me.” boy said eyeing them closely while repeating the same puppy eye look that he hoped would have the same effect.

“Sorry brat, but your eyes despite looking enchantingly beautiful have no chances against my sense of hygiene.” he proceeded to take him there.

 

Eren blushed and seemed as he realized it wouldn’t hurt to wash them, though he only stared at the sink.

 

“What is it?” Levi mumbled when setting another portion of eggs.

“How do I make water come out? I watched you do it yesterday, but I can’t remember how.” his puzzled eyes only added the building up confusion on his face.

 

Not wanting to question the obvious reasons, Levi simply turned the tap on, Eren slightly flinching at the temperature. Luckily man didn’t forget the trigger that would make the boy revert back to wolf form. No way, he would let that happen after waiting for a reunion for nearly ten years.

 

“You do know how to use cutlery, right?” Levi asked after Eren dried his hands and reached for the fork.

“I saw you using it a little while ago, so it’s not really a problem.” the next moment, boy’s mouth was filled with food. Man continued preparing his portion of eggs though Eren literally wolfed down his in less than a minute. By the time Levi’s breakfast was ready, wolf-boy licked the plate clean for the tenth time.

“Still hungry?” writer asked as Eren started picking the breadcrumbs.

“Not really. It’s more of an instinct.” he saw Levi giving him a questionable look “It usually takes days before I get more to eat and when I do it’s like stomach is telling me I should eat more food since it’s not ensured when I’ll get to eat the next time.”

 

So Eren didn’t act purely out of an instinct even though he for some reason preferred human ones. He was indeed a mystery to figure out. This reminded him about events from the previous night, how boy had trashed and turned, and shouting incomprehensive words until his eyes were wide open and bloodshot. For a second Levi had thought that Eren was going to revert back to his wolf form. But the only thing he did was admitting he killed someone until losing consciousness. Not some animal for the sake of food, but a human being, someone with a full name and whole life ahead.

Levi wasn’t sure if he should bring this up now that wolf-boy was calmed down. After he had lost consciousness Eren had been still twitching as having seizures and it had taken nearly an hour of Levi’s back rubbing to get him back in peaceful sleep. However murder was something way serious to discuss than anything else. It may not have been Eren’s fault if he had been a wolf that time, but truth had to be known.

 

“Eren?” Levi called as brunette stopped observing the house “Do you wish to talk about what happened last night?”

“What about it?” Eren’s facial expression remained the same, proving he wasn’t faking it “Did something happen?”

“Don’t you remember? You woke up in the middle of the night as you were having a really bad nightmare.” man tried not to tell too much since boy stared at him as student who didn’t know how to solve a problem on the blackboard.

“I did?” wolf-boy partly clenched his fists, looking down to his knees. His previously wiggling tail suddenly stopped, hanging down from edge of the chair.

“It sure seemed like it. You looked terrible before you managed to fell back asleep.” Levi rather decided to leave murder for some other time if Eren’s cases of amnesia were as effective as he had described.

“I’m sorry…” was the only thing he could say “I’ve always had problems with my memory. That’s at least what Reiner said.”

“Reiner?” writer asked, nearly forgetting about the eggs in stove that were starting to burn “Who’s Reiner?”

 

Eren quickly set the hand in front of his mouth, clearly showing it was something he shouldn’t have said. Man rather paid attention to his prepared breakfast, carefully placing it on his plate along with luckily unburned toast. By the time he took a seat next to Eren, boy was still silent. Not minding that writer proceed to eat his meal while obviously giving the wolf-boy time he needed to reconsider. He was definitely deciding whether he should share his past and werewolf secrets with the man who had saved his life or not. There was also a possibility that “Reiner” person or whoever he was, had told him to not share this information with anyone.  

 

“Do you promise that anything I tell you about me, doesn’t leave this room?” as expected Eren asked.

“I guess.” man found it funny of how protective boy was about his origins despite blabbering how he can transform into wolf.

“No, you have to promise.” brunette’s expression turned into dead serious one.

“Do you want me to stretch my pinkie or something? Because I’m not doing that.” writer took a sip of his tea.”

“Please, just don’t tell anyone about us. Otherwise hunters will kill the little number of us that survived in hiding.” serious tone was replaced by a pleading one.

 

Poor kid, Levi thought. He was afraid to the point where he thought that a single mistake could kill him. Compered to Eren from yesterday that relaxingly watched TV and had told him in nutshell how his transformation worked was entirely different from nearly sobbing child in front of him.

 

“Look I won’t tell anyone, alright?” man patted his shoulders in parental way “But the more I know about you, the more I can protect you.”

“Why do you want protect me so much? I mean you’ve already saved my life and took care of me. I owe you so much and there’s no way I can ever repay you, heck I never even attended school.” Eren gripped onto shirt that Levi borrowed him “I can leave right away if you want me to.”

“Brat, calm down.” writer prevented him from taking the shirt off “You don’t owe me anything. If I wanted to get rid of you, I wouldn’t bother taking you in.”

“But why?” tears ran the boy’s face down from unknown emotions.

“Let’s just say I don’t like kids getting lost during the winter days and accidently running into some weird shit. Fuck it if they have animal ears and tail.” Levi wiped the tears off Eren’s face “Plus I live on my own anyway. Extra company won’t kill me.”

“I’m not a kid, I’m fifteen.” Eren made few more sobs, snot running down his nose.

“Then blow that snot away, Mr. Adult.” man set the napkin in front of him, boy taking it with a slight frown.

 

Duo stared at each other for some time until Levi finally stood up and went to wash the dishes from breakfast. The whole time Eren observed him as waiting for something. Writer paid no attention since he went sweep as soon as he was done with dishes. Finally Eren broke the silence.

 

“Aren’t you going to question me further?” wolf-boy asked, his tail wiggling nervously.

“Well I’m not forcing you, but it would be great to know some stuff about you if you’re staying here.” man replied, eyes focused to the floor.

“So you’re really letting me stay here?” Eren’s tail wiggled even faster from the intense mix of emotions.

“Brat, you’re losing your pants.” boy didn’t get Levi’s words at first, but soon realized what he meant. Due to swift movements of his tail, projecting out of pants and boxers, the clothing nearly slipped off all the way to knees, showing rather graphic sight.

Eren immediately pulled them back on and rushed under the blanket on couch, hiding his blushing cheeks of embarrassment. Levi continued with house chores, acting as expressionless as always, but deep down he laughed hard. Eventually Eren’s head peeked out of his temporary shelter, cheeks still red and wolf ears lowered.

 

“Well?” Levi asked as he was already scrubbing the floor.

“Wouldn’t you rather sit down if you want me to tell you about myself?” boy’s eyes followed the swift movements of brush covered by cleaning foam.

“I’m all ears.” he finished with the rest of neatly cleaned dining room and took a seat next to Eren who currently looked like a huge rolled-up pancake.

“I’m not really sure where should I start, since I don’t remember much before joining a pack.” he remained wrapped in blanket.

“Tell me who that Reiner guy is.” Levi refilled his cup of tea.

“He’s like a big brother to me and also an Alpha of our pack. Actually there is another Alpha, Bertold, but the two of them cooperate as one. Reiner is more of a leader though. There are few Betas, but I can really recall their names. If I remember correctly there are five or six of us.” Eren’s face slightly changed as feeling nostalgia “We’ve got along pretty great, hunting together, travelling around and so on. When winter and soon spring were over, we would revert back to our human form. As wolves we travelled back to California where we would spend summer. Apparently Reiner and Bertold have a house there. I and some other younger Betas were kept inside as others had jobs that brought money and that meaning food. I think they covered ears with baseball hats and hid their tails so they wouldn’t look that different from others. We had to do that too if we wanted to play outside. Sometimes when not much people were there, we would go to the wild beach. I really liked how water was all salty and warm.”

“What would you do inside the house all day?” Levi listened with crossed arms.

“One of older Betas would always stay and taught us letters, numbers and later more difficult stuff. It was kind of boring and stupid, since I would forget everything I learnt until the next summer. I know how to read actually, that’s the only thing I didn’t forget. But we always played and watched movies and tested our abilities. When fall would be closing in we headed back here in wolf forms and then repeated everything from the start.” Eren gradually came out of the blanket.

“I see… but have you ever been excluded out of your pack?” writer asked, not expecting the reacting that followed.

“No! They would never do that to me. Reiner once risked his life to get me out of dog shelter after I accidently took the wolf form!” boy practically yelled when defending his pack “We help each other so no one stays behind.”

“That still doesn’t explain why you were all alone when I’ve found you.” Levi didn’t mean to provoke hatred, but he needed answers about Eren’s pack. He had seen it with his own eyes how Alpha hit him when he was a cub, just because Eren didn’t want them to eat Levi. Something didn’t seem right.

“Hunters.” wolf-boy reached for his arm that was pierced with bullets a mere day ago “When they started shooting at us, we were forced to go separate ways. One Beta was already missing and I think the other Beta was shot when trying to protect me. The third Beta and both Alphas tried to fight them off, but it was useless. We can heal up, but not if we get shot multiple times. The last time I saw Reiner was when he took me to safety and signed me to wait there until they lure the hunters away. Unfortunately they were smart enough to find me and I just ran…”

 

From the way told it, story sounded true enough for Levi to believe it. Perhaps it was just a pure coincidence that Eren’s starving pack had encountered him and Eren had been smart enough to convince them otherwise.

 

“You sounded pretty petrified when mentioning the hunters as they’re not regular ones. I’m sensing some issues here.” Levi proceeded to remove blanket off since Eren covered his head with it again.

“They hide among regular ones, but in reality they hunt the remaining wolf shifters like me. I firstly thought Reiner was only scaring me, because he would tell me stories about them. He said hunters would come to get me if I was naughty. In reality hunters have been killing wolf shifters since the medieval times, believing we’re the threat. The missing Beta of our pack was killed by them!” Eren suddenly burst into tears.

 

Levi wanted to punch himself for making Eren cry again. He tried his best to not trigger the painful memories of wolf-boy’s past, but ended up doing just that. Sighing, he stood up to retrieve a tissue box and another one from kitchen counter. After writer made sure not a single teardrop was on boy’s face, he opened the other box.

 

“What is that?” Eren carefully sniffed at it, the scent lifting up his ears “It smells sweet and funny at once.”

“Have you ever had chocolate? I’ve thought you’d feel better.” Levi asked when handing him a small piece in blue wrapper.

“You mean candy? Bertold sometimes brought those sweet things on sticks, saying it was called lollypop.” brunet studied the praline in his hands “This is not _ice cream_ , right? Reiner said it’s poisonous.”

 

If situation was different Levi might even laugh. Technically ice cream wasn’t lethal for him, but it could cause him to transform back to wolf. From what boy described Reiner seemed to be rather caring and protective of his pack, unlike Levi imagined.

In matter of minutes, Eren finally figured out how to unwrap it, eyes wide and tail wiggling happily once the taste spread all over his mouth. If he were to be in a cartoon, his eyes would be replaced by stars.

 

“Can I get another one? Pretty please.” wolf-boy was no longer upset face showing nothing but instant happiness.

“Just another one, okay? Otherwise you won’t be able to eat lunch.” man handed him praline, this time wrapped, ironically, in a green wrapper, almost the same shade as Eren’s eyes.

“Is it lunchtime already?” boy asked while eating the chocolate.

 

Sudden realization hit Levi, it was indeed a lunchtime, but not during the weekend. Today was the regular working day, time when he was supposed to be at work to be precise. He quickly instructed Eren to wait where he was as he reached for his house phone. Right cell phone still needed to be replaced. Typing the number he knew by heart, Levi went using his talent of making up stuff to make a good enough excuse for not being at work in time.

 

“Freedom Falls bookstore. How can I help you?” Levi recognized Isabel’s voice that was surprisingly rather less jumpy than usual. Probably due to talking with unknown person on the other side of the phone.

“Isabel?” he said just to make sure it really was her.

“Levi-bro! How are you feeling? I heard you caught a cold.” Isabel’s cheerful side replaced the polite one.

“Excuse me?” man wasn’t sure if he already made up an excuse or not.

“We were going to call you this morning since you were awfully late, but Erwin dropped by the store saying you were sick. Petra said it wouldn’t be exactly nice if we would bother you while your recovery.” she said, probably with a manga in her hand. Whenever phone was her responsibility she would secretly enjoy her hobby since phone was located in tiny office, perfect hideout.

“I see. How’s the work going?” he asked when hearing multiple voices in the background.

“Let me get you Farlan, he’s more familiar with this stuff and Petra is busy with few customers.” more background noise was heard when male voice joined the conversation.

“Hey, Levi. Everything alright with you?” Farlan smirked at the other side.

“Terrific. How’s the bookstore?” Levi asked a bit worried since he wasn’t sure if it really was functioning well.

“We’ve cleaned the second floor spotless, rearranged the new delivery of lexicons and ordered the books you requested day before yesterday. It’s basically as you’re here.” he joked “Do you really have that little faith in us?”

“Not really, just making sure.” Levi was relieved both by good old Erwin and Farlan who stepped into his shoes.

“Oh, I almost forgot. Erwin said he’ll come to visit you around midday.” Farlan said just in the moment when a doorbell rang.

“I think he’s already here, take care.” Levi finished, putting the phone back.

 

He went to open the door when out of sudden Eren started sniffing the air wildly. His pupils were narrowed, tail lifted up and bristled like a watchdog encountering an intruder. Once he seemed to get a specific scent, wolf-boy raced towards Levi’s bedroom, right under his bed while shouting _hunters._

Skeptical about current information, Levi approached the doors carefully, looking through a peephole. Blond hair, broad shoulders and tall figure – Erwin. Just in case blond wasn’t alone, Levi continued to look around. Eren couldn’t react so rashly if for nothing, but from what man saw Erwin was alone save for the two bags in his hands.

 

“Levi? You home?” he shouted, barely heard through thick doors.

“Are you alone?” writer asked, prepared to further locking the doors if necessary.

“Of course I’m alone. Who else do you want me to be with? Hanji wanted to come too, but I managed to convince her that her presence could worsen your condition.” Erwin switched to knocking.

“Sounds like me enough.” after making sure Erwin was really alone, Levi locked the doors, but swiftly closed them as soon as blond was inside.

“What’s with the rush?” man put the bags on the kitchen counter “And I got you groceries for few days.”

“Wolf-boy went all crazy when he smelled you and shouted that the hunters came.” Levi leaned against the wall.

“So, he woke up? How is he? Oh, did you just say he can talk?” Erwin became excited.

“He was fucking fine before you appeared Eyebrows. Are you actually a hunter or something?” black haired gave him a serious glance, literally shouting for him to focus on question.

“Hunter? Well, my education is definable in completely other way so no. You said he smelled me?” Erwin began to think, scratching his chin when doing so “I spoke with few hunters today, about Marco Bodt’s case, so I might still have some of their scent on me. Now that I think about it, we shook our hands quite a lot.”

“Good, so you’re definitely not a hunter.” Levi headed towards the bedroom, Erwin not far behind “The brat’s here hiding somewhere.”

“Is he hostile or in any way dangerous?” blond asked with no slight nervousness.

“You kidding? He’s like a lost puppy, crying whenever he was upset.” writer looked around his bedroom, eyes landing on tall that Eren had forgotten to hide “Brat? You can come out.”

“No, the hunter is with you! He’s going to kill me!” Erwin was surprised by a tiny squeak coming from under the bed.

“If Erwin was an actual hunter you’d be dead by now. Which idiot shouts when being hidden?” Levi got on his knees, bending down to face the terrified wolf-boy.

 

Eren was curled up in a ball, tail between his legs and hands covering his ears. In normal circumstances brunet would be covered by a thick layer of dust, but not in Levi’s house. Writer vacuumed entire house every three days to make sure there wasn’t a single layer of it anywhere. As Levi pushed his hand under the bed, Eren instantly moved away, not daring to come out.  

 

“Don’t make this difficult.” man mumbled as he finally grabbed onto the back of Eren’s short. After he was pulled out of the little hideout, wolf-boy most definitely felt like a little kitten that got into trouble. He even looked like one with arms and legs still wrapped around own body and Levi holding him in the same way a mother cat would hold a kitten by its nape. Erwin grinned at the sight, which only resulted in further scaring Eren, who immediately buried his face into Levi’s shirt.

 

“Come on, put yourself together. Erwin is not going to kill you, in fact he treated your wounds after you were shot.” Levi managed to peel the wolf-boy away from himself, seating him on the bed. Despite of clearly not trusting him, Eren lifted his head, staring into the person that slightly reminded him of a member from his pack.

“Wow, his eyes really are something.” Erwin said in excitement “Oh and my name is Erwin. I’m a friend of Levi’s.”

“Eren.” boy replied simply as he gradually calmed down, but was still skeptical about the person he didn’t know “Thank you.”

“Alright, now that we finally got you out we can go discuss the rest at the table.” Levi grabbed Eren’s arm, dragging him back to dining room before he could protest. Taking a seat, wolf-boy looked down, trying to avoid eye contact with Erwin.

 

“You smell like hunters.” Eren was the first to break the silence.

“I apologize if I scared you, but I’m really not a hunter. I’m a doctor at Freedom Falls hospital where we recently had a teenager who had been accidently shot by the hunters. I was discussing some things occurring the accident with them, so that might be the reason why you smelled them.” blond explained while Levi checked the groceries and put them into the fridge and cupboards.

“You didn’t tell them about me, did you?” boy kept both hands together as begging to be safe.

“Of course not.” Erwin petted Eren’s head at which he flinched slightly “So there’s no need to be afraid of me.”

 

The rest of conversation was Eren explaining Erwin the same story as he did before to Levi. The writer choose to prepare the next meal, rather than listening to the same thing all over again. He also offered to make a little extra for blond who politely declined, saying he was in rush for the next shift and already had eaten in cafeteria.

Before he left, he took a look on Eren (who still needed a bit of assurance of Levi in order to trust him) and lastly gave the black haired two envelopes, addressed to him.

 

“It seems you’re more popular when you’re absent.” Erwin grinned as he left through the doors.

“I sure hope it’s not from editors, reminding me to write that next fucking book. I already told them I’ll write it whenever I’ll feel like it.” Levi noticed the blank space where sender’s information was supposed to be.

“Well you know the best.” blond blinked and exchanged looks with Eren “I’ll come to check on the two of you soon. Take care.”

 

Eren watched Erwin getting into the car and then driving by the only forest road in sight. Once it disappeared brunet became more relaxed as Levi set the table for lunch. Blond sure knew which ingredients he needed for a simple, but balanced meal.

 

“You still afraid of Erwin?” Levi handed him a plate filled with two pieces of steak and steamed vegetables.

“Not really, though his scent is still making me nuts.” boy took a bite of meat, swallowing it without chewing “What are those letters about?”

“I’ll open them once I eat this and get you a bath.” man neatly cut down his steak on more tiny pieces.

“Bath? But why?” Eren looked surprised despite knowing the reason why.

“Firstly you’re in my house. Secondly you’re dusty from hiding under the bed.” Levi said, leaving Eren open mouthed with a potato nearly falling out of his mouth.

“But there was no dust under your bed, I swear.” boy fought the impossible battle against Levi’s sense of hygiene.

“I don’t give a damn about it. If you know what’s good for you, you’ll get fresh clothes and scrub yourself out of filth until you smell like roses.” man said it in half-mumble tone “And speaking of which, you didn’t eat the vegetables.”

“I don’t like them.” Eren narrowed his eyes, but compared to Levi’s ones he was no match.

“I don’t care, eat them.” black haired was already done eating.

“I don’t want to.” boy insisted, but somehow he knew it wasn’t a great idea.

“Do you want me to stuff it down your throat or you’ll be a good boy and eat it?” Eren finally gave up, forcing himself to swallow pieces of carrots, broccoli and peas “Good boy.”

 

Twenty minutes later, wolf-boy was having a shower as Levi opened the first envelop. It was a simple invitation to some traditional event in Freedom Falls. The other one was longer.

Sent by High School Rose’s principle, it was asking if Levi could come to cover few hours of Literature since the current teacher, Mrs. Ilse Langer was absent due to some Seminar in other state. It has been quite a while since he has been standing behind the counter while talking about boring authors and assigning the students with piles of homework. He considered taking the job, but didn’t exactly want to leave Eren alone. Who knows what would happen if he was to be on his own, not to mention if he would accidently change into wolf.

 

Eren soon came out of the bathroom, dressed into fresh clothes and hair still dripping wet. Levi was going to tell him to dry the hair before catching a cold when boy suddenly began to laugh hard.

 

“What’s so funny?” man demanded to know.

“Glasses.” Eren blurted out as he continued to laugh.

 

Levi nearly forgot about the glasses he used purely for reading the tiniest texts such as the ones on letters. He wasn’t wearing them in public since he, as Eren had proven, looked ridicules. The magnifying glass made his narrowed eyes bigger, consequently making him look like a mixture of super creepy and weird.

 

“Look who’s talking, spikey.” black haired returned the only insult he could, based purely on the only mistake he found “Wipe your hair properly before you end up with fever.”

“Alright, professor.” Eren continued to laugh when he out of sudden turned completely pale.

“Eren?” Levi looked away from the letters, sensing that something was clearly wrong.

 

Eren’s emerald eyes turned blank as well and for a moment he looked like as he was sleepwalking, heading towards the glass doors leading towards the terrace. There he stared into broad daylight that was slowly disappearing due short winter time.

Levi tried to get some sense into him, by dragging him back to bedroom, but whatever he tried Eren remained staring as searching for something.

 

Or someone.

 

Realizing it won’t stir him out of his day gaze, Levi proceeded to search for whatever wolf-boy was looking at. Besides the tall trees and some rocks there weren’t any things that would instantly catch your eye.

 

No, Eren wasn’t just looking. He was listening to a distant howl that was getting closer. A lost Omega? Wandering Beta? Or even his own pack of survivors that made it through the shooting.

No, it was _her!_

 

From what he remembered his pack had only one female that was extremely possessive and jealous of Bertold and Reiner having an Alpha status. Every wolf shifter was eager to become an Alpha. There were only three ways to become one, each difficult in its own way. As Beta or Omega you’d have to either kill another Alpha, in rare cases go through a specific process and lastly claim another Alpha, Beta or Omega as your own.

If Eren knew right, Annie wished to claim Bertold, but the Alpha loved Reiner way more than her, leaving her drowning in jealousy. The next Beta she tried to claim was killed by hunters, years ago. Now he was the only Beta left on her list. He never really like her and the fact of being her mate made him sick.

 

He forced to punch himself in order to stop listening to her siren call and ran to Levi’s arms. Writer confusedly gave him a protective hug as Eren again began to sob.

 

“Please Levi, hide me! I don’t want to go back!” brunet shook uncontrollably “You were right, I remember now. I ran away from my pack just after my friend was killed by hunters. I spent four years as a wolf until pack eventually found me. They wanted me back, but we got into a fight where I lost. Then there was a shooting where I used the chance to run away, but Annie followed me!”

 

Eren was interrupted by a shrieking glass and steaming breath on the transparent doors.

 

The piercing blue eyes underneath the bright fur stared at him like a sensor locating the target. The front paw continued scratching the doors, creating unpleasant sound of torture.

 

Then she began to howl and unlike the ones Levi enjoyed to listen to it sounded like a lullaby of horror.

 

_Come to me. You’re mine. Mine only._

“Please stop…” Eren uttered since his head began to throb from the clash of command and will power.

 

“I’m getting you out of here, you hear me Eren?” Levi lifted him bridal style at which boy nodded “I won’t let anyone take you. Not now when I finally got to know you.”


End file.
